In the first article by Charlene Elliott ("Healthy food looks serious": How children interpret packaged food products.") There is a session-based statistical investigation as to how children of both genders between grades 1-6 understand the design of food packaging and to which degree "fun food" is a factor in choosing one product over another.
Based on this particular session with a restricted number of children, it was concluded that children see "healthy food" as being boring and plain and "junk food" as fun and colorful, sometimes stating that the mere fact that it is junk food is in itself the appeal.
We understand through this article that their point of view didn't sprout entirely on its own. Food companies have invested millions to "kidize" their products to make them "prettier" or more appealing to children therefore boosting their sales. This has led to a whole "fun food" culture that has invested in the market of processed and unhealthy foods which in most cases, children should avoid as their tastes develop early and tend to follow them as they grow, often leading them to make unhealthy food choices later on.
In opposition to this occurring trend, The Edible Schoolyard was established as a way to teach children, not only to eat healthy food, but food origins, plant life cycles, community values, and the pleasures of work (http://www.chezpanissefoundation.org/edible-schoolyard). In this way you could say that the Edible Schoolyard manages to make healthy food "fun" therefore the children enjoy it and aren't bored during the experience. The 6th, 7th and 8th graders of Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California, get to grow their own produce in their garden and then use them in kitchen classes to cook up delicious meals, and hopefully instill a good relationship with healthy food that will stay with them as they get older.
Reading this reminded me of my own Home Economy class (which to my knowledge doesn't exist anymore at my old school) in the 8th grade where the second half of the year focused on the kitchen and cooking. It was a large classroom with about 5 down-sized functioning kitchens and I hardly remember fruits and vegetables being included in our recipe book. There was a baked potato in tin foil but we smothered it in butter and bacon bits. We also learned how to bake an egg in the microwave and make marshmallow popcorn balls.
Looking back, I really enjoyed that class not only because of the cooking but because we were divided into small "families", each with a kitchen and a dining table. I truly think it would have been a great opportunity to learn such things that are being taught at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School thanks to the Edible School Garden, as that was a time just before true adolescence when we were still intruiged by what our teachers were telling us (generally speaking).
As opposed to those good efforts, food has crept its way into the toy industry since many years ago. Probably ever since a young girl began trying to imitate what her mother was doing in the kitchen.
I was watching the Canadian Antique Roadshow a while ago and one woman brought an authentic functioning miniature cast-iron kitchen set from the 19th century which belonged to her great grand mother, the Appraiser couldn't stop gushing at how you could actually "cook" with this toy along with the mother who probably owned a real-life similar set.
I had almost entirely forgotten about this fact as I decided to browse the online toy store of "Toys'r'us" which was my favourite (real) store as a child and quickly found food related toys, which were even divided into age groups for me.
The first result was a "Step2 Lifestyle PartyTime Kitchen" which was equipped with a non functioning stove and a variety of condiments. And a wall clock.
The second result was the most current version of the Easy Bake oven. This item struck a chord with me as I had owned its predecessor in the 90s as a child myself, enticed by the television commercial telling me I could bake my own cakes thanks to this marvel. This led to me looking up that particular commercial and to my surprise I found one going as far back as 1972. I soon remembered other such food toy products that existed (and still do) which allow children to cook or bake and the one common denominator is that it is all junk food; ice cream, cake, snow cones, etc.. Teaching children through play that junk food is fun and it's not bad for you, because it tastes good.
On a last note, although it is mostly understood that all cooking or food related toys are geard toward young girls, it is, but not exclusively, I managed to find a boy version of the Easy Bake oven, called the Quesy Bake Oven and there are a number of toys that appeal to both genders although usually they are geared toward girls. Which is a whole other topic onto itself.
1972 Easy Bake Oven commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpFjQoWMUoU
early 90s Easy Bake Oven commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtpWgecmmlA&NR=1
90s commercial of Queasy Bake Oven, (boys version):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCxbE85h7Gk&feature=related
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