Junior’s Fresh is excited to officially join the Citibabes family. Junior's Fresh gives parents a fresh option when it comes to food for your little one. We hand-craft locally sourced, farm fresh food for your child and will run the Citibabes cafe this fall. We look forward to meeting the community and talking to children about our farm-to-Citibabes philosophy. Please feel free to share any ideas you have on children, education and nutrition for us to explore in future blog posts and in our cafe. We are proud to prepare your family healthy, local meals and snacks that you and your children will love to eat.
A child’s curiosity is unlimited. Spend a lot of time with your kids - either during the week or on the weekends – and you’re constantly reminded of their intense interest in not only what’s in front of them, but everything that passes by them on their daily journey through life. Every day is a learning experience for our children and us parents too.
Imagine the wonder in their eyes when they learn that the fruits and vegetables that they eat were grown by a farmer, on a farm, surrounded by the same animals - like horses, cows and ducks - they’ve been listening to you read about since they were little babies. Just because we live in the city doesn’t mean we can’t teach our children about where our food comes from, and have some fun along the way.
Luckily, the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden at the New York Botanical Gardens has an amazing program for families where kids can learn about gardening and where their food comes from without even leaving the city. Although fall is already here, there’s still time to pay a visit and help prepare the garden for winter through the end of October. Children can even take seeds home to start their own garden.
Also open through the end of the month (October 28) from 1:30-6 p.m. at the Family Garden is Mario Batali's Kitchen Gardens. Here, children explore with Mario's Menu Mystery game, featuring favorite vegetables and herbs from nine of his restaurant's kitchens, including Otto and Del Posto. What a great way to make the connection between the vegetables farmer’s plant and the food that they eat every day!
At Junior’s Fresh, our farm-to-child philosophy and commitment to hand-crafted foods and locally sourced ingredients means that we spend a lot of time talking to farmers at the Union Square Greenmarket to get the best, freshest ingredients for our food. Now that harvest season is upon us, it’s a great time to stop by for a mini field trip to see all the colorful fruits and vegetables like eggplant and kabocha squash; and pick up your Halloween stockpile of pumpkins and gourds. What’s really great about the Greenmarket is the chance to meet the actual farmers who grow your food. You can even stop by and visit some of the farmers we use, like Migliorelli Farm from Northern Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley Region. They are at the Union Square Greenmarket three days a week - just ask for Chelsea Migliorelli , the farmer’s daughter. She can answer all your little one’s questions including the one about that strange looking kohlrabi in the corner. Or swing by Norwich Meadows Farm where Josh Feig can be found preparing samples of all types of vegetables like okra, green beans, and turnips. You wouldn’t believe the amount of children clamoring to eat their greens when he’s doing the cooking. Luckily, he’s only too happy to impart his technique and ingredients on parents.
When children are part of the process of choosing their vegetables at the farmer’s market or grocery store, it can increase their interest in eating them later – after all, that’s their special vegetable that they picked themselves. Talk to your children about where their food came from – remind them of the farmers from the markets and books they have grown up reading. Pick up some new books like “The Vegetables We Eat” and “Growing Vegetable Soup”. Most importantly: have fun!
Michelle Hoffmann, Junior's Fresh founder has her Certification in Organic Food from the Organic College at Albert's Organics and is a Certified Food Handler. She frequently speaks to parents around New York City about her realistic, stress-free & nutritious approach to childrens' mealtimes. As a passionate cook and busy & dedicated mom, wife, daughter & friend, Michelle incorporates an "Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local" philosophy into every day of her family's life. Follow Junior's Fresh on Facebook and Twitter.