Foodie Kiddie

Times Succumbs to Kid-Foodie Epidemic

The child-chef is not Dexter Wells.
The child-chef is not Dexter Wells. Photo: iStockPhoto.com

Pete Wells, dining editor of the Times, has taken a cue from such successful kid foodies as David Fishman, the 12-year-old critic, and Alex Goldberg, teen mozzarella assistant at DiPalo’s. Meet Dexter, Wells’s 4-year-old son. Dexter hoards baby vegetables and likes to make coffee. The family makes sorbet together and Dexter has food allergies. Wells narrowly avoids the Neal Pollack route, where the alterna-dad writer trained his toddler to be a cheese snob, but only because Dexter likes normal kid foods like cookies. But can Dexter retain his kid qualities growing up in a foodie household? Only the Times will tell. Also, look for new food features in the magazine this year: Sam Sifton on replicating restaurant tricks at home, regular profiles on “food revolutionaries,” and an updated recipe column.

Cooking With Dexter: Orange Genius [NYTM]
A New Way to Look at Food Writing [NYTM]

Times Succumbs to Kid-Foodie Epidemic