Opening the Chewandswallow Digest this morning, we learned of spaghetti storms in our stars—but not until 2010. Ron and Judi Barrett's classic children's story Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will become a 3-D IMAX film by Sony Pictures Animation, starring Andy Samberg and Anna Faris. Beyond pasta, the town of Chewandswallow will also be deluged by Gorgonzola snow flurries, toast hurricanes, and pea-soup fog. Since an illustrated 30 pages can only lend so much film fodder, the plot invents a scientist who instigates the edible meteorology in hopes of ending world hunger. (If you remember, the book begins with Grandpa accidentally whacking his grandson with a pancake while flipping one for breakfast, then explains how normal this is in... More

©iStockphoto.com/iofoto Family meals have been credited with doing a lot for kids, from reducing the risk of substance abuse and eating disorders to teaching healthy eating habits to fostering good relationships with parents. Turns out it's not just good for kids—parents also benefit from having family dinners. A new study showed parents had more successful and optimistic outlooks on their professional careers if they made it home in time for dinner. A tip for successful family meals: Keep it simple. Just because it's a home-cooked meal doesn't mean you need to whip out your chef's hat—it's less about the meal than the communal aspect. As the Slate piece aptly puts it: "Regularity matters. Maybe the family dinner is all about... More

Mark "The Minimalist" Bittman can kick back and relax when retirement phase rolls around. His three-year old co-star in this week's New York Times video on "Banana Paleta," a take on the Mexican ice pop, was the "Mini Minimalist," a three-year old whose YouTube videos over the last few months have mimicked the original Bittman videos with every Bittmanian hand motion, finesse and verbatim script—plus more mumbling, crawling and onesies. Was he listening to Bittman's voice instead of bedtime stories every night before bed? Mark Bitt-Little-Man seemed uncharacteristically shy this week as he pressed blender buttons with his godfather. Couldn't handle the stage-sharing? But he was himself again in this newest uploaded performance, a take on Bittman's braised short... More

The good news is, someone in my family is eligible to enjoy a prix fixe menu at Chicago's Frontera Grill, Osteria di Tramonto, One Sixtyblue, or Coco Pazzo Cafe for $4. The bad news is, I have to pay $20, and we don't live in Chicago. If we did, however, I'd be all over Kids' Restaurant Week in Chicago, which runs June 21-28. Nineteen of Chicago's top restaurants are participating. The rules are: (1) come in between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; (2) kids under 12 pay their age; and (3) adults and older kids pay $20.08. The web site doesn't say anything about the menus, so I called a couple of the restaurants to find out what kids should... More

When I heard the Georgian Room, Seattle's fanciest hotel restaurant, would be holding an etiquette class for 8- to 13-year-olds, I had one question for instructor (and Georgian Room maitre d') Tony D'Agostino: are any kids going to come to the class on their own accord? Not likely, he admitted. "How many kids go, 'Mom, I want to go learn etiquette?'" D'Agostino said. "It's right up with the adult classes, though. You go around the table and ask, 'Why are you here?' The husbands go, 'My wife is bringing me.'" So how do you keep a captive and potentially unruly audience entertained? In a word, snacks. And not those cucumber sandwiches, either. The tiered tea trays will hold scones and... More

The Melissa & Doug Cutting Food Box surely deserves a spot in the toy hall of fame. I've lost count of the number of "meals" my daughter Iris, 3, has prepared for me with this thing. The best feature is the sound: when the wooden knife lops off a chunk of toy carrot, cucumber, or watermelon, the Velcro gives way with a crunch much like the sound of a real knife through celery. Trouble is, Iris has had the toy for almost two years, and she's getting bored with it. What's the next step? I have just the thing.... More

I've been reading new kid-related cookbooks so you don't have to. First, the good news. Nicola Graimes's Top 100 Recipes for a Healthy Lunchbox is petite (the book is about 6-inches square) and English. The author may also be petite and English, for all I know. The recipes have an emphasis on "healthy" but without resorting to unsavory stuff like low-fat cottage cheese or tub margarine. Surely my daughter Iris could be convinced to take Chicken Tikka Naan, Zucchini & Parmesan Fritters, or even Sushi Cones in her Hello Kitty lunchbox, although she would eat the contents of the sushi cone and leave the seaweed. There is a whole section on salads; if your kids accept salad in their lunch,... More

Hello there, children! | Photograph from iStockPhoto.com Concerned chefs and food writers agree: American school lunches suck. Reform programs such as Alice Waters's Edible Schoolyard have sprung up at every grade level from kindergarten to college. Deborah Madison recently took a trip to France and observed schoolchildren choosing between two salads, mâche with roast duck and fava beans or mâche with salmon and asparagus. Meanwhile, Ann Cooper's book Lunch Lessons surveys the depressing fast-food landscape of the average American school and offers some ideas for fixing up your school's lunch program.... More

My friend John told me the other day that his son was at the stage where he was only willing to eat if John pretended the spoon was a plane or train en route to his little mouth. I sent him a link this morning to Babyplane, a spoon with a little plastic plane built around it, and he wrote back to call it a scientific breakthrough, saying, "You could actually TRIPLE the amount of food that gets into a toddler with that spoon." $15 at Pylones, in blue or pink.... More