Getting away from junk food

FOREIGN holidays are an ideal opportunity to get your kids eating healthily and thinking about food.

Prices are cheaper than in the UK, restaurants are more welcoming to children, and seeking out wonderful local produce and fresh ingredients can be part of the holiday adventure.

Most importantly, though, parents have the time to make mealtimes and food preparation fun, to wean their children off the sugar and salt in fast food, and re-educate their palates. Something it can be hard to do in London.

When I won my second set of two Michelin stars for the restaurant at the Landmark hotel I was pinned to my job for 14 hours a day, and my wife, Kim, fed our six children mostly on convenience foods. This was partly because of time and partly because well, she's not too good on the stove.

When we moved to Aude in rural France for 13 months to bring the family back together - and to do a book and Channel 4 series, French Leave - I took charge of meals. All the rubbish in the fridge got slung out, and replaced with natural, healthy ingredients.

We went back to old-fashioned values: everyone sat down at the table, I'd prepare food and if they were hungry, they ate it. Instead of sugarcoated cereal in the morning the kids got natural yoghurts and fruit purees.

They learned the difference between bought ice cream and home- made, between processed ham and the kind we boiled at home. Because they were used to Kraft slices I started them off on mild fromage blanc or goat's cheese, rather than anything too strong like Roquefort.

Of course there were long faces at first. When I gave them good French chocolate rather than Dairy Milk they complained it didn't taste of anything.

But their palates began improving from day one. At least three of my kids wouldn't touch anything with garlic in it but now Charlie, my seven-year-old, happily munches his way through slices of garlic tart, one of my specialities.

If I was dictatorial about the food I was giving them in France, I also tried to make food fun. We went to farmers' markets and into restaurant kitchens where they could see the colours and shapes of new foodstuffs - peppers, chillis, cured hams, lobsters.

Kim and I also led by example.

There are some tastes I don't like, but if a small child sees his dad trying frog's legs, he'll have a go too.

We made mealtimes a relaxed, enjoyable time, and saved our arguments for afterwards.

We also tried to get our kids interestedand involved in the preparation-of food. I showed them how a cheap cut of beef, put through the mincer, then seasoned and cooked yourself, is a far superior product to a hamburger from a fast-food joint.

We all made sausage rolls together, so the kids knew what was in them, and I knew what nutrients they were getting. Eating out, we'd encourage them to be adventurous, to experiment.

Of course, back home, with both parents working, it isn't always possible to prepare and eat meals together. But if you use a foreign holiday to educate your children's tastes, it will stay with them.

Today, my kids turn their noses up at McDonald's, they're unfazed by escargot and they've even adjusted to chocolate with more cocoa solids and fewer e-numbers. They come to my new restaurant, The New Angel in Dartmouth, every Sunday as a treat, and they really appreciate it.

When you see a little kid who can identify all the different cheeses on a cheese board, it's wonderful.

. John Burton Race is now cooking at The New Angel in Dartmouth (01803 839425, www.thenewangel.

co.uk). French Leave, his account of his family's year in France, is published by Ebury Press at Pounds 7.99.

WAYS TO GET KIDS TO EAT WELL

Start them early: The sooner you introduce children to different tastes and textures, the more discerning their palates will be. Also, the children who behave best in restaurants are the ones who have been taken into dining rooms from the year dot.

Be adventurous yourself: Lead by example. Try things that you haven't tasted before. Taste the local produce.

Make the whole experience of food enjoyable: Turn eating out into a great social family thing that you do together for fun: since people eat out later on the Continent, let the kids stay up. Let them try some wine, diluted with water if necessary. Let them smell it before they taste it. Make it an adventure.

Try to get them involved in food: Let children handle the produce at farmers' markets, and teach them how to prepare food for picnics and evenings in.

Take them into the kitchens: Restaurants abroad are much more amenable to this than they are over here. It's like being on an aeroplane and being allowed to look around the cockpit. If they are serving lobsters, get the chef to show them one. Kids are excited by things that are strange and new.

(c)2004. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.