Kids Meals That Feed Curiosity
Everyone knows you can torture your kids by substituting apple slices for fries in a Happy Meal, but what about the important part of the kid's meal: the toy?
Burgerville is an unusual burger chain found only in Oregon and Southwest Washington. They use sustainably raised beef and Northwest fruit. The fish and chips is made with fresh Alaskan halibut. You can put Rogue Creamery's awesome Smokey Blue cheese on your burger or salad.
Recently, my daughter, Iris, got the kid's meal at Burgerville (plain burger and fries), and the toy was a plastic cup, a small trowel, and a packet of zinnia seeds. Iris loved planting the zinnias on our balcony. The other seeds in the series are sunflowers, forget-me-nots, and baby snapdragons. Collect all four! Dirt not included. (The regional chain has since moved on to a bird-watching toy series now that growing season has come to an end.)
Meanwhile, as I learned from the blog Mombrarian, Wendy's is including audiobooks such as Arthur and Junie B. Jones in its kid's meal.
Of course, some parents consider Junie B. Jones the literary equivalent of trans fats.
Wendy's also offers an audiobook about a mouse named Geronimo Stilton, but the cheese pictured on the package looks more like Emmentaler than Stilton. If you get this CD at Wendy's, promise me you'll explain to your kids that Stilton has mold in it, not holes. Thanks.
About the author: Matthew Amster-Burton lives in Seattle. His work appears frequently in the Seattle Times and Seattle magazine. He also maintains the blog Roots and Grubs. His favorite food is pad Thai.
Photograph from iStockphoto.com
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8 Comments:
I love that! That is seriously cool. What kid needs yet another miniature plastic piece of crap toy with their burger? Seeds? Genius.
missbhavens at 4:03PM on 10/08/07
I agree. It is genius. I've heard a lot of good things about Burgerville. I'm dying to eat there, with or without the seeds.
Ed Levine at 4:32PM on 10/08/07
Ed, I highly recommend Burgerville, but you have to go in with the right expectations. I've seen people go in thinking it's going to be a gourmet burger experience and been disappointed. It's really better-than-average fast food with a clean conscience. Get a burger with Tillamook cheese or Smokey Blue, whatever fruit milkshake is in season (the mocha is also good), and sweet potato fries in fall, and you'll be happy. I find the Walla Walla onion rings overrated.
mamster at 6:11PM on 10/08/07
How very cool of Burgerville! I hope it catches on. I agree that we can't remove the "bling" from healthy meals and expect kids to have the same enthusiasm for them as the McD's meals they've come to expect.
swirlingnotions at 7:20PM on 10/08/07
By the way . . . I wrote a piece called Marketing McMom about how to make healthy, homecooked meals more appealing to kids. It's here if anyone wants to take a peek.
swirlingnotions at 7:22PM on 10/08/07
Wonderful idea, those seeds. And "fast food with a clean conscience" really does sound like genius, or a miracle.
annien at 8:02PM on 10/08/07
How far are we from these "fast food with a conscience" joints gaining traction across the States, I wonder? Japanese MOS Burger chain (since 1972) is second only to Mackers in Japan, has outlets all over Asia, and to my understanding uses mostly organic ingredients.
onedaylingers at 9:22PM on 10/08/07
I love Buregerville, and everytime I go home I try to get there, they have the best fast food burgers. But my husband thinks I am crazy b/c I almost always get their regular burger which has nothing but their 'special sauce' on it, delish. I really like seeing what they have to offer for theirs kids meals, that is just great :)
Sarahrm at 10:56PM on 10/08/07