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Kids books about food are a fun and easy way to introduce new foods to your children! This list of fun and vibrant books are perfect for introducing fruits, vegetables, and new foods to your children!
Food is an amazing, wonderful, and rich nourishing for the soul. Food is much more than just the calories we fuel our body with.
- Food is a love language – its a grandmother’s freshly baked cookies, that secret family recipe handed down for generations, a meal brought to a friend with a new baby.
- Food is a comfort – that hot bowl of soup after playing in the snow, a refreshing drink on a hot and humid day,
- Food is a way to connect people together – at parties, at funerals, at weddings – when people gather together there is almost always food.
Raising a child who can see the value in food beyond the fact that cookies are yummy is not only fulfilling, it makes life easier, more fun, and creates wonderful opportunities for family bonding. Read more about how to raise kids who actually enjoy their food at The Complete Guide to Raising Adventurous Eaters.
How Books Help Your Kids Be Better Eaters:
Books are not only a great way to spend quality 1:1 time with our kids, but they are also a fun and stress-free way to introduce foods to our kids! Whether or not your kid is a picky eater, these fun children’s books about food will bring more conversation and vocabulary around food into your daily lives, and help them to be more curious about new foods!
The following is a list of children’s books about food perfect for introducing new foods, new colors, and new variety into your child’s meals!
Disclosure: Jenni Ward/The Gingered Whisk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. You can read more about this on my Disclosure Page.
Board Books for Babies and Toddlers
These board books are gorgeous and fun ways to introduce fruits and veggies of all colors to your little ones!
Eating the Alphabet
This book has gorgeous painted illustrations and take you through the alphabet with fruits and veggies. There are plenty of familiar items, but also some you might not have heard of before! Its definitely a great addition to your book collection.
Grab it Here
Indestructibles: Baby, Let’s Eat!
These Indestructibles have been some of our favorite books for babies! Rip proof, chew proof, drool proof, these books have lasted us through all 3 girls! With a gorgous double-page spread for each color, this book is a must have!
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Yum Yum Baby (Square Padded Picture Book)
This soft padded board book is so fabulous! I love that it groups food by things you find on the farm, in the garden, or eat for breakfast. Not only do they have cute little photos (ok so all the food has sweet little baby faces on it), BUT each item also has fun descriptive words around it. For example, the peach picture also says "sweet, fuzzy, juicy, pink". It is a great book to start expanding food vocabulary!
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Edible Numbers: Count, Learn, Eat
I am massively in love with this book, and its companion book "Edible Colors". Each book has vibrant, real photos of each kind of food, and I love that it shows you all the different varieties of each food. For example, when you count 10 tomatoes, ecah tomato is a different color and variety! You need these.
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Mrs. Peanuckle’s Vegetable Alphabet (Mrs. Peanuckle’s Alphabet)
This book, and its sister book "Fruit Alphabet" are fun ways to explore both the alphabet and a variety of produce. On each page is a fruit or vegetable, along with some fun facts about them. The illustratons are bright and colorful.
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Pandas Love Pickles
This book is so sweet! With gorgeous drawn black and white images and colorful fruits and veggies, this whimsical ABC book explores the world of animals and food, and will inspire your little eater to try more!
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Foodie Books for Preschoolers
Preschool is that tricky time when kids start exhibiting their independnce. These books are awesome choices for broading interest and reducing any food anxiety!
Gregory, the Terrible Eater (Scholastic Bookshelf)
This classic children's story is about a little goat who doesn't eat the way his family eats! It is a silly story kids will love!
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Pizza!: An Interactive Recipe Book (Cook In A Book)
This is a super fun interactive book where kids can "cook" a recipe! With fun pictures that they can move, its a fun introduction to getting kids in the kitchen without getting messy. There are also other versions for tacos, pancakes, and cookies!
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Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant (Classic Board Books)
If you like chanting and cheering, this cute book is for you! WIth real life pictures and really fun text, this book will help change your your dinner table vegetable blues into a fun event! There is also another version called "Go, Go, Grapes!".
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Julia, Child
Julia Child fans, this one is for you! This adorable and whimsical book is a fictional story inspired by Julia Child. Basically, you need it.
Get it here
The Seven Silly Eaters
This silly book introduces you to a family with lots of children – but each child will only eat ONE kind of food! What is the poor mother to do?
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How to Feed Your Parents
This book is so fun! Its about a little girl who loves exploring food – but her parents are stuck in a boring food rut and won't try anything new! The little girl takes matters into her own hands, and the results are delicous! (I love that this book has recipes in the back!)
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Foodie Books for Elementary Aged Kids
When your kids are ready for bigger and longer books, these fun reads help explore the world of food even more!
Everybody Cooks Rice (Picture Books)
This series of books (also "Everybody Bakes Bread", "Everybody Cooks Soup", and "Everybody Brings Noodles") is about a girl named Carrie, and how she discovers that all the people in her apartment complex, while very diferent, also have a lot of similaries! There are lots of recipes in the back of each of these books, so make sure you add them all to your home library!
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The Ugly Vegetables
This book is about a Chinese-American girl who discovers that even though her garden isn't filled with pretty flowers, it still has beauty – in the form of vegetables! This book has a fun pronounciation guide in the back, and a recipe, too!
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Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 1
This series of books is just plain fun!! A little boy goes on quests with his magic cooking pot to defeat a dragon, discover new ingredients, find monsters to have for and/or to dinner, and to save the day through cooking. Rutabaga will dare any danger to uncover new tastes, and there’s a whole world full of food to try. This is the perfect adventure for any kid grossed out when something weird shows up on the dinner table.
Check out this recipe
Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament
The story of trial and error and creating the first potato chip! This is such a fun story to read!
Check out this recipe
Hot Hot Roti for Dada-Ji
Overflowing with family, food, and a tall stack of fun, Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji is sure to warm the heart and tickle the tummy. A fun way for children to learn about the cultural traditions and foods of India to be enjoyed by the whole family.
Check out this recipe
Bilal Cooks Daal
Six-year-old Bilal introduces his friends to his favorite dish—daal!—in this charming picture book that showcases the value of patience, teamwork, community, and sharing.
Check out this recipe
Thank You, Omu!
Everyone in the neighborhood dreams of a taste of Omu's delicious stew! One by one, they follow their noses toward the scrumptious scent. And one by one, Omu offers a portion of her meal. Soon the pot is empty. Has she been so generous that she has nothing left for herself?
Check out this recipe
How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?: The Story of Food (Exploring the Everyday)
One of the best parts of a young child’s day is opening a lunchbox and diving in. But how did that delicious food get there? From planting wheat to mixing dough, climbing trees to machine-squeezing fruit, picking cocoa pods to stirring a vat of melted bliss, here is a clear, engaging look at the steps involved in producing some common foods. Health tips and a peek at basic food groups complete the menu.
Check out this recipe
Books For Older Kids
Redwall
While not actually about food, this series of books is really fun to read. It is about heroic mice, bunnies, and more that go on advenutres to save the day. Hidden throughout the stories are wonderful feast scenes with amazing descriotions that will pique any curiosity and leave the reader hungry for days!
Grab it Here
Love these books? Take your meal time a step further by Exploring the Sense of Taste with Kids!
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Great post! Jenni 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Food is the focal point of the memories and stories, some of which are fictionalized.
Have a great day!