New Diets Lead to Family Food Fights

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NEW DIETS LEAD TO FAMILY FOOD FIGHTS

More obstacles to togetherness at dinner table

Associated Press (MSNBC News), Sept. 15

http://www.msnbc.com/news/963957.asp

 

Making dinner was tough enough before Junior became a vegan and Dad got on his

low-carb, meat-eater's diet. Now planning a meal and cooking it is not only

time-consuming, it's complicated.

 

Just ask Lateefah Viley, who cooks for her two younger brothers and a sister.

Viley is a pescetarian — a vegetarian who eats fish. All three siblings are

committed meat lovers, but one won't eat pork; another eats beef but no chicken.

The third rejects cheese. " The hardest part is just cooking it, " Viley says. But

shopping is no small matter either. " If they

were all vegetarians, I wouldn't have to worry about buying the roast or buying

the pepper steak. I would just be happy with my bags of soy protein, " said the

26-year-old account executive in Nyack, N.Y. So on one night she might marinate

jerk chicken for her siblings, ages 12 to 21, then grill a veggie burger for

herself. Even ordering out is complicated. When the family wants pizza, they

have it cut in four sections with individual topping

instructions for each quarter.

 

A Divided Dinner Table

Individual tastes, a multitude of choices and America's diet craze have

done their part to divide the family dinner table, occasionally leading to some

nasty food fights. " Sometimes it can create a lot of stress " — especially for

the cook, said Leslie Bonci, a Pittsburgh dietitian and spokeswoman for the

American Dietetic Association. Some diets are low-fat — rejecting red meats,

dairy products and most oils, while allowing grains and

fruits. Others are low-carbohydrate, dependent on plenty of meat, eggs and

cheese, but forbidding bread, rice and pasta. More teens and preteens are

experimenting with vegetarianism; others are just plain finicky. The key to a

harmonious family dinner table is compromise, Bonci says. To save time, the main

cook in the family can improvise one-size-fits-all dishes for low-carb and

vegetarian diets by adding or leaving out meat instead of preparing separate

plates for everyone. " That way, you really nip the fights in the bud, " she said.

 

For Lynn Pizzirusso, of Memphis, Tenn., holiday dinners and outdoor

family cookouts are especially challenging. Her 28-year-old son, Jamie, is a

vegan, shunning all meats and dairy products. For Thanksgiving dinner, the

Pizzirussos constantly have to coordinate their time in the kitchen so that

Jamie's " tofurkey " — a tofu-based vegetarian turkey — is ready when the rest of

the family sits down to eat. With a shortage of oven

space, it means everyone has to take his turn to cook. " It's a tight squeeze and

sometimes tempers will flare, " said Pizzirusso, a 57-year-old marketing director

at the University of Tennessee Medical Group.

 

Children Play Larger Role

Lora Ruffner and her husband, both on a low-carb diet, make their big

family get-togethers pot-luck. That way, she says, everybody's eating habits are

met and she can still enjoy her green salads, lean meat, hard-boiled eggs and

low-carb ice cream. " You just need a number of main dishes that everybody can

work with, and then everybody brings their own. It's the best way to do any kind

of holiday, " said Ruffner, a graphic arts designer from Xenia, Ohio.

 

But it's not just dieting adults that are the problem. Children today play

a larger role in family food decisions compared to past generations, said Ardyth

Gillespie, a nutritionist at Cornell University. The result is that families

often negotiate their eating lifestyles.

 

Then, there's the expense. Viley says she easily spends $200 on groceries

every shopping trip, buying meat and vegetarian items. And it's time-consuming.

Often, she goes home on her lunch break to defrost the meat in time for dinner.

During holidays, she prepares the food a day in advance. Yet her family

respects her eating habits as she does theirs. " Everyone has different needs, "

she said.