Picky Eating & Books About Food
Mealtime, for so many of us, it’s the most challenging part of the day. Do you have a picky eater? Is your child gagging and spitting out food? This can all be so frustrating and leave you feeling helpless. The titles below can help you bring the topic of food into conversations with your family. They also represent a variety of different cuisines and flavors. Many will leave you and your little one laughing, which might help change the way he/she thinks about mealtime. I hope these books warm your heart and help you fill your little one’s tummy!
An extra special thank you to Marisa Portanova for all of the insight and advice that she contributed to this post. Marisa is pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist with a special interest in Pediatric Feeding Disorders. We began our feeding therapy journey with Marisa when my son, Sammy, was just 8 months old. I’m truly grateful for all that she has taught us, and the difference she has made in Sammy’s life.
I hope you love the books I recommend! Please note that the links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Board Books - Ages 0-3
Cook in a Book: Pancakes and Cook in a Book Pizza are two adorable books that I found at our local library and I’m OBSESSED! My son loved pulling the tabs, spinning the wheels, and using all of the moving parts to create each dish. This title is cleverly designed to make it look and feel like young readers are actually pouring the milk, flour, and other ingredients. My little guy loved moving the pancakes from the pan to the plate because they actually pop right out.
Vegetables in Underwear & Fruits in Suits are major favorites in our house. They feature fruits and veggies in bathing suits and underwear. These board books are silly, fun and are good for making healthy foods a part of the conversation.
Yummy & Yucky - join this adorable little baby as he learns which foods are yummy (spaghetti) and yucky (blue crayons). This silly story is perfect for toddlers who are exploring the world with their mouths!
Rosa’s Big Pizza Experiment - Getting kids involved in cooking and meal prep is a great way to get kids interested in new foods and eating. This book is perfect for doing just that! Join Rosa and her friends as they measure and mix ingredients to make the perfect pizza. I love the way this book touches on themes of teamwork, science, math, and healthy eating.
Play With Your Plate - This mix-and-match board book is so much fun to read! Explore different combinations of food as you flip the four sets of matching pages. From watermelon and tacos to sushi, peas, and kiwi, let your fussy eater learn about new foods along with old favorites. Practice colors, shapes, and counting as you create a new plate on each page.
My Fridge: My First Book of Food! - an adorable board book for toddlers and 2’s. Open the refrigerator to find a shelf for every food group. With colorful pictures and simple text, this book helps readers learn about healthy foods and where they come from.
What’s Inside My Lunchbox? - I love this book because it explores food from all around the world. Your little one will enjoy lifting the flaps and hearing about different kinds of food. It might even help spark an interest in trying something new.
The Last Marshmallow - I can’t think of a better way to explore concepts of math and kindness than with marshmallows! After playing in the snow, Olivia and Mei are ready for cocoa. There's one marshmallow for Olivia and one marshmallow for Mei. But what will they do with the third marshmallow? How can two friends share three things fairly? Also available in Spanish.
Little Dumplings - This little board book packs a huge punch of information and fun! Explore dumplings from cuisines all around the world. Each cute dumpling looks almost too good to eat, plus backmatter that will help adults with pronunciation and locations. This book is a must-read!
A Pizza My Heart - This book combines 2 of my very favorite things, books & pizza! With adorable illustrations and cheesy puns, this little story will leave you and your little reader laughing and hungry.
Who Ate My Fruit? & Who Ate My Cakes? - two fun and interactive lift-the-flap books about food. Open the flaps and find out who has taken a bite out of the cat’s fruit. A great book for toddlers and 2’s.
Picture Books - Ages 3+
Llama Llama Yum Yum - Toddlers and 2’s are often quite challenging when it comes to eating. This book was a big help in our house. Follow Llama Llama in a SCRATCH and SNIFF story! Perfect for engaging your picky eater and hopefully will get them interested in making healthy choices.
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? and Como Comen Los Dinosaurios - part of Jane Yolen and Mark Teague’s “How Do Dinosaurs Series.” You and your little reader will laugh at questions about the eating habits and table manners of dinosaurs. Available in Spanish too!
LMNO Peas is a fun and colorful alphabet book, featuring peas on the job at every career imaginable. I like this book because it’s an interesting way for kids to learn about letters and the wide world of careers. It might also make your little one think a bit differently about the peas on her dinner plate!
Choose Good Food - a fun and informative book for kids ages 3+. It gives lots of good information about food groups, healthy choices, and habits without being too wordy. I like the way it’s broken down into shorter sections, which you can read at your own pace.
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato- this fun Charlie and Lola book will leave you and your little one giggling. Charlie tries to help his sister, Lola, learn to eat healthy foods. He gives each food a new silly name, which catches Lola’s attention and sparks her interest in some new fruit and vegetables.
Zora’s Zucchini - It’s only the 3rd day of summer but Zora is out of ideas about what to do. When she decides to start growing zucchini she embarks on a whole new adventure. She learns about gardening, trying new foods, cooking new dishes, and sharing her zucchini with her friends and neighbors. This book is full of messages about healthy eating, the rewards of hard work, and the importance of connecting with our communities.
Goodnight Veggies - Walk through the vegetable garden and visit all of the veggies as they get tucked into bed. This colorful rhyming book is fun and silly and might leave your little one interested in learning about some new vegetables.
Dragons Love Tacos - A very funny book about dragons who love tacos, just don’t give them anything too spicy! *UPDATE* Check out the sequel, Dragons Love Tacos 2!
Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes - this book is beautiful and provides so many different kinds of learning experiences. It features the shapes that children find all around them, from the circle-shaped tortilla to triangle-shaped watermelons. Use this book to learn about shapes, learn Spanish vocabulary and explore Latin-American cuisine.
Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast - join Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast in a race to reach the last drop of syrup in the refrigerator. This hilarious book will leave you and your reader laughing and might help spark interest in trying new foods.
New- We’ve absolutely LOVED all he tnewer books in this series! Be sure to check them all out.
Priya Dreams of Marigolds and Masala - Meet Priya and her grandmother, Babi Ba. They enjoy connecting and cooking together. Babi Ba shares her memories with Priya, and brings the sights, sounds, flavors and, traditions of India to life as they cook. I love the way this book encourages readers to celebrate their identities and share their traditions.
Green is a Chile Pepper - This book is a beautiful exploration of food and color through the rich tapestry of Latinx culture. From red spices and yellow masa to green cilantro and brown churros. I love the way this book invites readers in to learn about food, color, culture, and language.
How Can I Wait - This is the best book about patience for kids that I have ever seen! Dell and Pete are brothers who love treats. So what happens when mom says that they can have a treat now or wait until later? This fun rhyming book is packed with messages about patience, delayed gratification, and self-control.
Picture Books - Ages 4+
How To Feed Your Parents - Matilda Macaroni wants to try new foods but she having trouble convincing her parents, who are picky eaters. They’re stuck in a rut of chicken nuggets and pizza when Matilda decides to take matters into her own hands. She learns how to crack eggs, cook gumbo and miso soup with the help of her grandmother and aunt. But can she convince her parents to try it all?
Can I Eat That? is full of funny questions and information about food from around the world. One page asks, “If I eat jelly, and I eat fish, can I eat Jellyfish?” turn the page to find out how jellyfish are prepared with vegetables in Chinese cuisine. Questions like “Can I eat a potato? A tomato? A tornado?” will leave you laughing. Then turn the page to learn about tonnatos from Italy, tournedos from France and tostadas from Mexico.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - this is one of my favorite books of ALL time! I read this when I was a little girl and was absolutely captivated by it. In the town of Chewandswallow all of their food comes down from the sky. They catch their pasta on plates outside and get their eggs from clouds at breakfast time. This hilarious book may just get your little one excited about some new foods!
My Magical Foods is the newest addition to the Magic of Me series! I love the way this book talks about where healthy foods come from and why they’re so important. The gorgeous illustrations featuring a beautifully diverse cast of characters (as well as friendly fruits and veggies) are sure to engage your little reader.
Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies and Zombis No Comen Verduras! (Spanish Edition) - Mo Romero is a unique zombie. He’d rather work in his garden and eat vegetables than eat zombie cuisine, like his parents. Will Mo convince his parents to try some veggies? This fun story might just change the way your little one thinks about veggies.
Dumpling Day - coming soon!
EZ-PZ utensils, dishes and drinkware - these products have been a game-changer in our house! My son began receiving feeding therapy at 8 months, after months of struggling to eat solids. We’ve been on a long feeding journey ever since, as we’ve learned how to help him tolerate a variety of flavors and textures. Along the way we found EZ-PZ’s combined placemats and dishes and, it’s made mealtime so much easier. It’s simplified the prep, serving and clean up process for both of my kids. I especially LOVE their Tiny Utensils. The thick handles are easy to grasp and helped my son transition to self-feeding.
EZ-PZ has combined placemats and dishes together to create cleaner and easier mealtimes. Their products suction to the surface of your highchair or table, preventing your little explorer from flipping their bowl or plate over. Their made of 100% food-safe silicone, are dishwasher safe and stackable. They promote self-feeding and fine-motor skills. Thank you so much to EZ-PZ for gifting us our First Foods set.
Check back again soon for more titles!
Advice from Marisa Portanova, a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist with a special interest in Pediatric Feeding Disorders:
Having a picky eater at home can be an overwhelming and stressful experience. As a parent, you may feel hopeless and stuck. You are not alone! Many families are going through the same thing.
Feeding disorders can have a medical, sensory, behavioral or oral motor basis. This is why it is very important to understand your child’s eating habits. Has your child had a history of reflux? Are they spitting/throwing/refusing new foods? Are they only eating one specific brand of chicken nuggets? Overstuffing their mouth? Gagging at the site of certain foods/textures? These are all helpful clues as we crack the code and begin on our feeding journeys. It is important for our children to feel safe, have fun, and look forward to meal time. Here are some tips on how to get started!
Upright Supported Seating: You want to make sure your child is seated upright in a high chair or in a toddler chair at a small table. It is important for your child’s feet and trunk to be supported so they are not slouching or fighting gravity while they eat. This will ensure they are ready to drink, chew and swallow.
Routine is Key: Eat together as a family. Give your child a responsibility (setting the napkins, throwing away everyone’s plate at the end of dinner, etc.). Children learn by example. It will help set the expectation for meal time. Try to avoid electronics, it will help your child fully engage in meal time conversation.
Start with What Your Child Does Accept: Start with introducing foods/liquids that your child does accept and then build by just one noticeable difference. The new food can be of a similar taste, temperature, texture, color or shape. For example, if your child accepts bread, you can cut it into a different shape using a cookie cutter. If your child accepts goldfish, try presenting some other orange foods such as sweet potato, Cheez-Its, carrots, mango smoothies, cheese slices, etc.
It’s OK to Get Messy: Are you constantly wiping your child’s chin as you feed them yogurt? Although you want to teach your child to be clean, this could create a stressful experience for them. You want to let your child fully experience the food with their five senses: touch, site, smell, taste and sound. It’s ok for them to plunge their hand into the yogurt bowl or smear it all over their tray. Have them feed their snack to their favorite doll or teddy bear. Incorporating food into imaginative play can make a world of a difference. This is actually great and will help your child learn that eating can be fun!
Get Creative: We want eating to be an enjoyable experience and we don’t want our kids to be afraid of trying new things. Use broccoli as a paint brush, pretend a green smoothie is “Hulk Juice” and will give you muscles, make a flower out of vegetables and fruits, etc. If you search “Creative Food Crafts” on Pinterest, there’s tons of fun ideas for you and your child to experience food in a new, fun way!
Small Steps for Success: Have your child interact with the food in a way they feel most comfortable: start with smelling the food, touching the food, kissing the food, licking the food, and then when they’re ready they can take a bite! This will optimize their sensory experience as they become more comfortable with a new food. This could take days/weeks, but remember “slow and steady wins the race”!
Happy Eating!
Marisa Portanova M.S. CCC-SLP, TSSLD