One Bite Won't Kill You

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Summary: A Wealth of Kid&Grown-up -Friendly Recipes
Review: I borrowed this book from our public library and ended up keeping it for two extra weeks - the fine was worth it! My five-year-old and I found a dozen very appealing recipes. Ingredients were easy to obtain and directions were easy to follow. Rave reviews from adults (11 including two seniors) and children (ages 3-6) alike especially for the broccoli and mushroom bake and the vaguely asian salad. Illustrations and text are very funny. A great gift!

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Summary: Great for Picky Husbands too!
Review: I picked up this book because my husband is one of the pickiest people I have ever met (nothing green, no fruit except apples and watermelon, nothing too spicy) and I am tired of eating the same 5 recipes I know he will eat. I hope we don't have picky children too but if we do, I am prepared. There are a ton of ideas in here so there should be enough to please anyone. Most of the recipes are easy, too, and made with ingredients you actually have around the house. I have a lot of cookbooks but find myself turning to this one again and again for easy, non-threatening meals. I also love the little stories and her attitude and advice are great. Don't worry if they won't eat everything, just so they eat something!

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Summary: Why?
Review: I recently purchased 'One Bite Won't Kill You' by Ann Hodgman, and while her wit has me laughing out loud, and the recipes sound great, why must she use the expression "godd**n" (twice) in the introduction. Personally I find it offensive and in poor taste. Kind of ruins, for me anyway, what otherwise looks like a book I could definitely use with my finicky four year old.

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Summary: A cookbook with an attitude
Review: I would really like to recommend One Bite Won't Kill You by Ann Hodgman. It is a GREAT cookbook for picky eaters. It is not so much that the recipes are great (though they are) as her attitude when writing it. It really perks up your day to know that someone is writing a cookbook and really seems to GET kids.

She has fun recipes with real kid friendly ingredients such as Tater Tot Surprise and Nonthreating Cheese Fondue, but she also writes in a way that will get most parents smiling even with the food battle getting ready to come:

Nonthreating Cheese Fondue "...The fondue concept is so perfect for children -- it's so nice and violent, stabbing something with a fork and drowning it in a vat--that poisoning the cheese with wine is lunacy. But this recipe wouldn't dream of doing anything silly like this. This recipe LIKES children."

It is not a fancy cookbook. But it is a cookbook that has food with ingredients that you can find, are likely in your house anyway and isn't all preachy and nasty about the foods your kid SHOULD be eating. And the foods taste good. And my kids eat them. Also her essay in the back "Why None of This Matters" is really great too.

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Summary: Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic...
Review: Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic for this one... I have absolutely *loved* Hodgman's other 2 cookbooks (Beat This! and Beat That!) for the funny stories, excellent tips, but most of all - recipes that claim to be "the best of x, y, or z", and much of the time they are the best. The other 2 books are really chock full of fantastic recipes, and you read through wishing that you could try to create every one. Not so with this book. Sorry to say Ann, but many of these recipes just made me think "yuck". The ketchup content alone scares me. The recipes really are intended to appease the stereotypical kid that doesn't eat anything other than mac/cheese & chicken nuggets. These same kids might be interested to try something that looks odd, or has a funky name like Dragon Bones Cheese Stiks, or something something. My child is just not that way. (or maybe he is, but never had the opportunity to accept or decline the dragon bones variety of food) As I said, I may just be the wrong demographic for this, because my son's favorite foods are sushi and hummus. He tends to love to eat what we love to eat, and I guess no one told him that kids aren't supposed to like that stuff. Anyway, this book still has the wonderful injections of Ann Hodgman humor, but I just couldn't get over the number of recipes that NO WAY would I ever make. And she doesn't like olive oil??!! What?? We live on olive oil around here. My recommendation is that whether or not you have kids, go with her earlier books. There is a certain marinated flank steak recipe in one of them, that I guarantee *anyone* would be thrilled to eat. I'd be willing to say that it would be yummy even for those under the age of 10.

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Summary: Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic...
Review: Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic for this one... I have absolutely *loved* Hodgman's other 2 cookbooks (Beat This! and Beat That!) for the funny stories, excellent tips, but most of all - recipes that claim to be "the best of x, y, or z", and much of the time they are the best. The other 2 books are really chock full of fantastic recipes, and you read through wishing that you could try to create every one. Not so with this book. Sorry to say Ann, but many of these recipes just made me think "yuck". The ketchup content alone scares me. The recipes really are intended to appease the stereotypical kid that doesn't eat anything other than mac/cheese & chicken nuggets. These same kids might be interested to try something that looks odd, or has a funky name like Dragon Bones Cheese Stiks, or something something. My child is just not that way. (or maybe he is, but never had the opportunity to accept or decline the dragon bones variety of food) As I said, I may just be the wrong demographic for this, because my son's favorite foods are sushi and hummus. He tends to love to eat what we love to eat, and I guess no one told him that kids aren't supposed to like that stuff. Anyway, this book still has the wonderful injections of Ann Hodgman humor, but I just couldn't get over the number of recipes that NO WAY would I ever make. And she doesn't like olive oil??!! What?? We live on olive oil around here. My recommendation is that whether or not you have kids, go with her earlier books. There is a certain marinated flank steak recipe in one of them, that I guarantee *anyone* would be thrilled to eat. I'd be willing to say that it would be yummy even for those under the age of 10.

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Summary: Not for kids
Review: My 8 year old is a picky eater, so I picked up this book. With the exception of the "I Can't Believe I'm Doing This" recipes which generally involve a lot of fat and cheese, she won't eat anything in the book. The author seems to forget that picky eaters don't like their food mixed together. And, quite frankly, I don't need ideas like grilled hamburgers or spaghetti with cheese on it. My husband and I do like some of the recipes, Greek Beef Stew being our favorite, so I did give the book another star for that. If you have a picky adult eater in the house, this book would probably be helpful.

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Summary: Hilarious commentary; wish it had nutritional content info
Review: My favorite part of the book was the funny commentary about the challenges of trying to feed a picky eater healthy food. I actually was laughing out loud while reading some of it. My intentions to feed my children healthy food have been a problem since they turned one year old! I am ashamed to admit my kids live on water, chicken nuggets, bread, and minimal fruit and vegetables.

I was disappointed that there was no nutritional content for the recipes. I was curious about that because many recipes are laden with (what I consider lots of) dairy! There seems to be an over-reliance on recipes that contain butter (in large amounts), cream cheese, shredded cheese, or sour cream. For example the puffy pancake contains 2 Tablespoons of butter per serving. The Oven Fried Chicken also has 2 Tablespoons of butter per serving. There are many recipes with a lot of butter and/or other dairy products. It seems to me that the success of most of these recipes lies in that most children love to eat cheese and other dairy products, so it is added to almost everything.

Many of the recipes are more appealing to me than my children. Because my children have dairy and soy allergies, unfortunately, most of these recipes cannot be converted for their use! (Many substitutes for cow milk products cannot be baked, for example.) If your children have dairy allergies or sensitivities or if you are looking for foods with a lower fat content, this may not be the book for you. If your kids love cheese and dairy products and are at all open to trying new foods, you probably will have more success with this cookbook than I did!

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Summary: Money Well Spent! Excellent!
Review: The recipes are excellent. They are easy to follow and very few of them require exotic ingredients that I don't have right on hand.

What makes this book absolutely a treasure are the laugh out loud comments and side bar stories that are included in the book. As well as funny comments and stories are the hints and helpers that are really truly useful.

This was money well spent buying this cookbook. Enjoy.

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Summary: Why wouldn't they eat it?
Review: This is my second cookbook from Ann Hodgman. Her cookbooks are very entertaining to read, and the recipes are great! I would recommend this book to anyone with picky eaters in the house- kids and adults!