Now There’s A Service That Ensures Your Nanny’s Cooking Is Sophisticated Enough For Your Foodie Kid

shutterstock_92423734__1384458834_142.196.156.251Hey parents – is your nanny’s palate too unsophisticated for your toddler? Are you worried little Brixton is going to grow up not knowing the difference between quince paste and jelly? Do you like setting money on fire? If so, there is a new service you can hire to make sure you’re raising the foodie your child deserves to be.

The New York Times profiles a family today who sought out the services of a company to help them figure out how to ensure that their 5-year-old was growing up with a diversified palate:

Like other 5-year-olds, Erela Yashiv likes pizza and cupcakes and detests food that contains ”green specks” of vegetables. But her mother… wanted her daughter to adopt a more refined and global palate, whether it’s a gluten-free kale salad or falafel made from organic chickpeas.

As working parents, she and her husband, Dan Yashiv, 42, a music producer, do not have time to prepare such fare. And their nanny, from Wisconsin, does not always know the difference between quinoa and couscous.

Enter marc+mark, a company that specializes in teaching Nannies how to cook food that is worthy of the ever-expanding tastes of the children in their care – or probably more accurately, the tastes that their parents want them to have. I mean, what kind of simpleton raises a child to like mac-n-cheese, amiright? Marc Leandro and Mark Boquist are using their experience as personal chefs to the super rich (one worked for Steve Madden, the other for the chairman of J. Crew) to teach nannies how to mold young palates.

”Some of these nannies already do the cooking in the family, but they’re throwing chicken fingers in the oven, or worse, the microwave ”” they’re doing the bare minimum,” Mr. Leandro said.

I’m guessing that’s because they are nannies and not personal chefs. I’m also guessing this is what the parents have left them to cook.

The service costs $2500. The chefs come to you and assess your child’s eating habits and figure out what you would like to change about those habits. Then your nanny gets an intensive two day cooking course, complete with shopping tips:

Mr. Leandro and Mr. Boquist prepare two-thirds of the cookbook with the nanny at her place of work. On a recent Tuesday, they met Erela’s caregiver, Ashley Hofkens, at a Whole Foods Market near her employers’ apartment. They taught her food-shopping tips. ”It’s knowing how to pick a ripe avocado or peach, really simple stuff you might not think of,” Mr. Boquist said. ”It’s making sure something is organic, or trying to find products that are local.”

My question is – now that your nanny doubles as your chef and personal shopper – does she get a raise?

(photo: Everett Collection/ Shutterstock)

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