Spotlight on: panko breadcrumbs

Panko breadcrumbs come from Japanese cuisine and are lighter, crispier and less oil absorbent than regular breadcrumbs. They are made using an electrical current, which is kind of cool. They are also an amazing tool for helping children transition from breaded foods – like chicken nuggets –  to a wider variety of foods.

Parents of ‘picky’ children often semi-apologise for their child’s crunchy and beige diet. They often tell me what kinds of food their child eats with the introductory caveat “I know this isn’t the healthiest, but…”. I begin by explaining that there are reasons why children may find some of these processed foods easier to eat and that we always meet a child where they are, when we look to help them build eating confidence.

 

Why are chicken nuggets easy to eat?

Many children with a limited eating repertoire may find some aspects of sensory processing difficult. In other words, where most people are able to ‘translate’  the sense data they get from their food, for a minority of children, it can be overwhelming.

To keep themselves psychologically safe, they stick to foods which have clear sensory signals (think crunch), and whose behaviour is easy to predict. Five chicken nuggets made in a factory are likely to be uniform and consistent, unlike five mouthfuls of broccoli, which may differ in shape, colour, texture and taste. Plus, processed meat is easier to chew.

Most of us eat in a really visual way and for children who are anxious about new or disliked foods, that beige, crunchy appearance can signal familiarity. It can make a child feel that a food is in a category that they are okay with.

 

Taking small steps with panko

1) Try peeling chicken nuggets and serve them with their coating sprinkled on top.

This is best done alongside a couple of other accepted foods so that if your child decides not to explore or try them, you don’t need to worry because there is something else available for them to eat. It might take multiple exposures to help your child feel okay with this change.

If you can involve your child in the peeling and sprinkling process (depending one their age and stage) this can be a great way of helping them feel less wary of the new format. We never want to spring changes on children – they need to feel that they can trust you AND they can trust that they know what is in the food they are being offered.

2) Try making your own chicken nuggets using panko breadcrumbs – home made versions of accepted processed foods are a great way to help your child gently leave their comfort zone, as they are familiar yet not quite as consistent and predictable as the store-bought ones.

3) Try frying up some panko breadcrumbs with olive oil (and a little salt if you feel comfortable with this) until they turn golden. Next, serve the crunchy panko crumbs  sprinkled all over small pieces of chicken breast (I like poaching the chicken so that it is tender). This way, your child may feel confident enough to experiment with the chicken because it has that extra ‘crunch’.

4) Serve the panko breadcrumbs as a dry dip – I call these DIY nuggets… children can take the piece of chicken breast and dip it into the panko breadcrumbs to ‘make their own nuggets’.

 

My caveats!

With any of these changes, remember that as soon as you pressure your child to try the altered food, or even to interact with it, this can increase their anxiety. Read more here.

Simply have the food on the table as an option, eat some yourself and don’t draw any special attention to it. This can be super hard if you have beavered away in a hot kitchen for hours, making your own chicken nuggets with expensive chicken breast. Especially if cooking is not your thing. But if you’re not at a place where you can feel good about having exposed your child to something new even though they have ignored or rejected it, maybe these ideas are not for you yet.

Have a play around and see if you can come up with your own ideas for small forays away from ‘old favourite’ accepted foods. Or come and get inspiration over in my Facebook group ‘Parenting Picky Eaters’ or inside my membership site ‘Your Feeding Team’ where Simone Emery has been doing some fun things with noodles…