Picky Eaters: Why America's Kids Stopped Loving New Foods
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
Milk Street Radio
4.2 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
American children are some of the fussiest eaters in history, but it wasn’t always this way. In the 19th century, kids ate oysters and corned beef, and loved all things sour, smoky, and funky. Helen Zoe Veit shares how American children become picky eaters—and how to raise kids who aren’t. Plus, honey sommelier Marina Marchese guides Chris through a blind taste test (which includes the bitterest honey in the world!) and Milk Street’s Digital Editor Claire Lower sits down with comedian Josh Gondelman to discuss a controversial, hyperlocal phenomenon: the North Shore Beef sandwich.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, listeners, Chris Kimball here. |
| 0:02.0 | Genevieve Taylor is coming to Milk Street Radio to answer your grilling questions. |
| 0:06.4 | If you need new recipes or a bit of inspiration, we're here to help. |
| 0:10.2 | Or you can try to stump me in Genevieve with your toughest grilling mysteries or food fights. |
| 0:15.4 | Email us at Questions at MilkstreetRadio.com. |
| 0:18.1 | One more time, that's Questions at Milkstreetradio.com, and we'll be in touch. |
| 0:27.6 | This is Milk Street Radio from PRX. I'm your host, Christopher Kimble. My guest today, author |
| 0:34.3 | Helen Zoe Veit, says American children are the fussyest eaters in history. |
| 0:39.3 | But it wasn't always this way. Kids once ate foods that were sour, smoky, and funky. |
| 0:44.7 | When most Americans today imagine why kids in the past ate differently, they imagine that |
| 0:51.1 | it must have been because of scarcity. They imagine kids were forcing down foods they hated |
| 0:56.0 | because those were the only alternatives to hunger. |
| 0:59.0 | But no, in the 19th century, American children happily ate oysters, coffee, and corned beef. |
| 1:04.0 | When they talked about children's food, they talked about children's |
| 1:08.0 | natural curiosity, their natural interest in strong flavors and interesting textures. |
| 1:16.3 | Today, the truth about kids and picky eating. |
| 1:19.4 | That's coming up later in the show. |
| 1:21.4 | But first, it's my interview with Marina Marquesa. |
| 1:24.5 | Marina isn't just a beekeeper. |
| 1:26.3 | She's a certified honey sommelier, and she joins me now. |
| 1:31.5 | Marina, welcome to Milk Street. |
| 1:33.6 | Thank you for having me. |
... |
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