Life before chicken nuggets

[Colleen27]

We ate out occasionally as a kid, but I always ordered from the regular menu like a regular patron. Our most common restaurant was Big Boy, who had a kids menu, but it was just smaller portions. I always loved their fish n chips. But at other restaurants, it was the same deal. Normal food.

I think that's a big change that happened somewhere along the line. I remember going out with my mom as a kid and getting a kids' enchilada meal at a Mexican restaurant, shrimp at a seafood restaurant, lasagna at an Italian restaurant, etc.

Now it seems like no matter what the restaurant serves for adults, the kids menu is some variation on chicken fingers/nuggets, hamburger, mac & cheese. Even the sushi place we go to serves chicken nuggets! And waiters always look a little surprised when I ask for an adult menu for the kids, and even more shocked when I share from my plate or order an appetizer for my 2yo (who is, by the way, absolutely precious when she asks for sushi! ).

 

[mamacatnv]

I grew up in the 70's and no-one I knew went to restaurants all that much. McDonalds was a huge treat and I only remember doing it a few rare times and even then I don't remember being asked what I wanted. Now that you mention it, I can't remember anyone ever opening their mouth to complain about what was on the table in the homes either. We just sat down and ate whatever was in front of us, not just at my house but at friends houses too, I would never have dreamed to open up my mouth to complain.

Same here and I too grew up in the 70's. I remember a trip to an A&W for a really special Birthday lunch once and I only have 1 memory (pre-teenage years) of going to a McDonalds, I don't think we had any input on what was ordered.

Our "go-to" fast food which was really really rare was always Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dad would order a 9 pc box (always Original, no discussion) and a box of french fries. Mother would make a vegetable to go with it and we ate it at home, around the table.

We ate out seldom and it really was a treat when we did.

Now my kids are both of the McD's nugget generation. DD loves loves loves cheeseburgers, always has and DS was always an adventurous eater. However, they love a variety of foods including Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai etc....... we really tried to expose their pallets to a wide variety of tastes and textures. That said, if there is a cheeseburger on the menu at the Mexican restaurant DD is likely to order it! That girl loves her burgers

 

[tvguy]

I just recall ordering off the menu myself. I lost most of the battles with DW over catering to our kids. But I understand her position, she grew up in households where a procession of stepfathers forced her to eat a lot of things she didn't like.
Our now adult daughter is a vegetarian, so we are still catering to her tastes.

I'm not struck so much by catering to kids likes these days, as much as I am stuck by how many kids have food allergies today. I sure don't remember anyone when I was growing up with a food allergy. I have to wonder how many of those allergic kids aren't just really finding a hook to avoid eating something they don't like.

 

[minkydog]

When I was growing up eating out was an ocassional treat and there really weren't any fast food restaurants. Most meals were eaten at home and we all learned to eat properly with forks, spoons and knives. I have a neice and nephew, both now grown with kids of their own, who still don't know how to use a fork and knife. Sadly, it's a sign of the times.

This is what I was going to say. I'm 54 and I grew up in south Alabama. There were no restaurants in my little town. If you wanted to eat out you had to drive 40 miles. Our family was large(and poor!)so we didn't eat out. In my senior year of high school I was allowed to ride with friends to the next town to go to Pizza Hut after football games. Otherwise, we ate at home. The first time I ever ate in a white table cloth restaurant was my wedding night.

My mother was a stickler for manners and we all learned to eat what was served,with fork and knife held properly, keep our hands in our laps, and make "sparkling conversation." A LOTof kids today don't have the advantage of eating at home frequently where they are made to eat what is served, rather than Mom turning into a short order cook making everyone separate meals. And I don't know if you've seen how they eat in school, but in the school I work for there are NO utensils. Everything is eaten with the fingers--salad, fruit cocktail, pancake sticks,jello cubes, whatever. And they only have 20 min to eat,so the kids are literally wolfing their food down like German Shepards.

I have to say,I have NEVER cooked or served chicken nuggets of any sort to my kids. They just look nasty to me. We eat wings, chicken legs, sandwiches, pasta & sauce, soups & chilis, roast beef and chicken,and the occasional hamburger/hot dog dinner. Actually, hot dogs are such a rare treat that I even posted about it last week.

 

[MIGrandma]

When I was a kid in the 60's my favorite foods were macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and for quick stuff at home chicken noodle soup and Chef Boyardee spaghetti/ravioli/beefaroni.

I don't remember going out to eat very often at all, maybe occasionally for a hamburger at Hamburger Heaven or Burger Chef, that was it.

 

[Northstar]

Before chicken nuggets, there were grilled cheese sandwiches!

Any diner (the old-fashioned kind of restaurant, not a person!) or lunch counter had a short-order cook who'd make one for a kid. Mmm.

 

[simba20]

The only time my daughter eats chicken nuggets/tenders is when we go out, and only if it is to two particular restraunts (Chick-Fil-A is one of them). I am not high on BK or mCD's, so to eat there is really really rare.

Now like I said, there is only one sit down restraunt that DD will get nuggets at, but anywhere else, she eats different things (grilled chciken, pasta, fajitas -- Chili's). She rarely eats "typical kid's food"

Even at WDW we share with her from our plates. She'll only eat 1/4th of a hot dog...forget hamburgers.....nuggets will sometimes do.

I had a party for her this weekend (cookie decorating party) and wanted snacks for the kids. I had the hardest time, thinking of foods kids will like since DD doesn't eat them/eat them that often. I finally settled on a platter of nuggets form CFA.

My motto has always been "She eats what we eat." Why go out of my way after cooking a nice meal, to make something like mac-n-cheese, nuggets, pizza, or just anything just for her. Nope sorry, doesn't happen in my book.
Wait, I do take that back. When she was a year old or a few months over that, I made tacos one night. I figured she wasn;t ready for the spicy meat, so I did make her something of her own on taco nights for awhile. Then I snapped back to reality and thought, why not let her try it?

 

[SpecialK]

My go-to restaurant meal when I was a kid was fried shrimp. On the three or four occasions that we ate out during a year, it was a real treat.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

What a sad world that must have been.
Chicken McNuggets are my current junk food of choice

 

[mamacatnv]

My childhood predates the chicken nugget but I do remember the treat of choice when parents were going out and we had a sitter.
Mother would let us pick out a TV Dinner........
Sometimes she had them in the freezer and other times if it was a really special occassion she would take us to the store to choose our dinner.

I remember these being a big deal!
I loved the fried chicken, corn and mashed potatoes with the cinnamon apples for dessert!

 

[bookgirl]

I have noticed on many forums and threads that many kids will only eat chicken nuggets when not at home... I assume it may be at home as well. In any case there were no chicken nuggets when I was growing up and I don't remember being stuck on one item when we went out. Is there any one food that kids wanted when they ate out before the nuggets arrived?

Well, since I grew up in the sixties and seventies and my dad was in construction, we didn't eat out all that often. But I know that I would get a hamburger if I had to, prefered french fries by them selves but my mom insisted on a actual sandwich. I actually liked when we went to western sizzler or sirloin stockade, because I could get a salad, or baked potatoe or a plain piece of meat (steak or chicken mostly chicken). I was not an adventurous eater.

 

[olwyngdh]

Usually if we went out to eat back in the '60s when I was little it was nice restaurants on vacation, and all of them offered "child portions" of the regular meals...I ate a lot of interesting things

Howard Johnson on the PA turnpike was, however, my absolute favorite restaurant for lunch--They had PB&Js!! (I was much older before I realized that they existed in places other than on the turnpike, and by that time I had outgrown living on PB&J by choice)

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

My childhood predates the chicken nugget but I do remember the treat of choice when parents were going out and we had a sitter.
Mother would let us pick out a TV Dinner........
Sometimes she had them in the freezer and other times if it was a really special occassion she would take us to the store to choose our dinner.

I remember these being a big deal!
I loved the fried chicken, corn and mashed potatoes with the cinnamon apples for dessert!

Oooooh yes!!!!!

 

[Magix]

Hamburger and french fries. That was always my meal of choice as a kid, no matter where we went. It's all I wanted. This was in the 70's. I was so hooked into that meal, that one time my mom and sister and I were watching "Wheel of Fortune" and I don't think the puzzle even had one letter in it when I screamed out "Hamburger and French Fries!!!!" and I was RIGHT!!

 

[ldymcbth]

I was born mid-70's and wouldn't eat pizza or hamburgers until I was like 8 - my meal of choice as a child was fish and baked potato!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I was born in 1974, so for as long as I can remember there has been a children's option and if there wasn't, my stuff was cut up to accomodate me.

Theoretically a chicken nugget is no different. It is just a fun way to serve food.

I made shake n bake chicken for dinner this evening. It was the box seasoning, but I have made it from scratch before. In any case, I made the kids bite size pieces using the same chicken that used for the adult portion.

I don't get why a nugget gets such a bad wrap other than it is associated with fast food.

I was never a fan of them growing up though.

 

[Jennasis]

Fish sticks?

 

[JLTraveling]

I was born in 1976. We ate out fairly often, but both parents were excellent cooks, and we didn't go out nearly as often as people do now. At home, I ate what everyone else was eating. When we went out, my parents always checked the children's menu. If it was smaller portions of real food, they had me order off it. If it was junk (burgers and chicken fingers at a seafood restaurant, for example), then I had my choice of the children's menu or the adult menu. Invariably I opted for the adult menu. I was a very adventurous eater, and my parents exposed me to a huge range of ethnic cuisines. I learned proper table manners, how to place my napkin in my lap, how to use real utensils, even (as I got older) how to order wine.

We also ate fast food from time to time. My grandmother liked to take me to the "Mac Donald's" (that's how she pronounces it) when I spent the night with her, and my parents enjoyed the occasional fast food meal. I learned about moderation, and that it's okay to eat fun foods from time to time, but not all the time.

I think an entire food culture has been lost, or is at least seriously endangered. It makes me happy to see that some parents are instilling the love of good food in their kids.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

1988 kid here my go to was always a hot dog, grilled cheese or peanut butter and jam. But when we went out to a restaurant I always wanted soup and ate of my mother's plate

 

[princessmom29]

I don't think kids were allowed to be as picky as a general rule. I think parents cater to the" he will ONLY eat chicken nuggets" more so than in years past. I think it is just easier to do that than to ask the child to eat something else.