James BarryCEO | Chef | Founder of Pluck | Host of Everyday Ancestral | 20+ year Pro Chef Health, Wellness, & Curiosity

The Secret to Food Smart Kids

13 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:49

In this segment of the YouTube video, the host (Speaker A) explains that involving children in kitchen activities—letting them smell, hear, and touch food—reduces mealtime stress and fosters a healthier relationship with food. By exposing kids to food without pressure to eat, they develop skills and confidence that will serve them beyond the home. The goal is not merely to enforce a balanced diet during childhood, but to teach children that food fuels their bodies for activities they care about, such as sports, arts, and academics. James Barry asks for practical ways to support this involvement to make kids less picky, prompting advice on encouraging participation and openness to trying new foods.

Chapters

A great way to remove the stress at the table is to get kids involved with food in the kitchen. They can experience those smells and sounds and the texture with their fingers. But when kids are getting exposed to those foods without the pressure to eat it, it's gonna really help their relationship with food. You don't actually want your kid to just eat a balanced diet for 18 years. That's not your goal, because then what happens when they leave your home? They're not gonna have any skills. You want to help your child build a really good relationship with food where they're open to trying new things, where they understand a little bit about balance, where they understand that Food fuels their body, that if they wanna do soccer or they wanna do drama or play their instrument or do well in school, that they're going, oh, what I eat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner is actually gonna impact those things that I care about.
How do you support that involvement for kids to be less picky?