How America made its kids such picky eaters episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 25, 2026 · 46 MIN

How America made its kids such picky eaters

from Think from KERA · host KERA

If your kid has a meltdown over the shape of chicken nuggets, just know kids at the turn of the last century devoured organ meat. Helen Zoe Veit is a historian and associate professor of history at Michigan State University, where she is the director of the What America Ate and the America in the Kitchen projects. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why kids used to have a much more varied diet, the industries that created “kid food” that we now think of as standard fare and why carting around an endless supply of snacks is killing adventurous palates. Her book is called “Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If your kid has a meltdown over the shape of chicken nuggets, just know kids at the turn of the last century devoured organ meat. Helen Zoe Veit is a historian and associate professor of history at Michigan State University, where she is the director of the What America Ate and the America in the Kitchen projects. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why kids used to have a much more varied diet, the industries that created “kid food” that we now think of as standard fare and why carting around an endless supply of snacks is killing adventurous palates. Her book is called “Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History.”

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How America made its kids such picky eaters

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This episode was published on March 25, 2026.

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If your kid has a meltdown over the shape of chicken nuggets, just know kids at the turn of the last century devoured organ meat. Helen Zoe Veit is a historian and associate professor of history at Michigan State University, where she is the...

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