It is a battle none of us can fully prepare for: getting children to eat foods that they absolutely don’t want to.
Of course, most of us have tried the usual tactics. Hiding vegetables in sauces, shaping them into stars or dinosaurs, getting on our knees and begging. However, kids are smart and there’s only so much that will work on their growing little minds.
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That being said, one dietician and mother of two thinks she may have found the answer and it doesn’t involve sorcery somehow.
The trick to getting children to eat new foods
Writing in Allrecipes, Sally Kuzemchak said that while she was on a road trip with her children, her son, who would never usually touch a dish with onions, suddenly asked for a side of onion rings.
Just as Kuzemchak was about to tell him not to get them as he usually hated onions, she realised that this might actually be a breakthrough moment.
So, her advice for getting kids to try new foods? Change the scenery and see how you get on.
She said: “Being in a new environment feels like an adventure, and kids might be more game for trying new things—including foods.
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“Whether it’s a dish you don’t typically serve at home or a familiar ingredient spun in a new direction, foods can take on an air of mystique when we’re away from home. (Removing the pressure of the usual dinner table can help children feel freer to experiment, too.)”
It turns out that the dietitian was right to let her child try onion rings, as it really was a breakthrough for him and his sibling.
Kuzemchak said: “My kids have tried poutine in Canada, fried alligator in Florida, and plantains in Costa Rica.
“But even if they’re just trying a new ice cream flavour, I know they’re learning they can be brave—and the unknown can be good! As parents, trying new foods and praising our kids’ courage can help model an adventurous spirit.”
We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how forecasters know where to point on green screens when announcing the weather.
We’ve even shared how actors manage to look so, well, dead while playing corpses; so you’d think we’d be pretty familiar with Hollywood magic by now.
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But it never even occurred to me ― until now, at least ― to ask how lemons on TV look so darn juicy.
It took a TikTok from director and filmmaker David Ma, who shoots commercials and movies alike, to realise that what I’d been seeing on-screen had been a scam all along.
“This is the trick to getting the perfect squeeze,” he captioned his video, revealing a slow-mo shot of the artificially juiced-up citrus splashing its droplets of lies over some broccoli.
I knew stars tended to use more injectables than we think, but I wasn’t aware the procedure extended to their dinner.
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Other sneaky food-filming tricks include placing a water-soaked, microwaved tampon behind a bowl of food to create the illusion of a steaming meal and using acrylic ice cubes (which don’t melt) for cold drink campaigns.
Meanwhile, most on-screen “ice cream” is basically a form of buttercream made from vegetable shortening, corn syrup, and icing sugar.
Oh, and that “frost” on the glass of beer in adverts? Yeah, that’s more than likely aerosol deodorant sprayed onto the container to give the illusion of cold condensation.
Don’t even get me started on poultry in adverts, which is usually so raw it’s bloody on the inside (!!) and brushed with dish soap to get that perfect glisten.
People had *thoughts* in the comments
“Here I’ve been thinking I had all dry lemons for the last 10 years,” one commenter wrote.
Most of the cabinet is made up of top Labour MPs who covered the same portfolio while in Opposition, including a record eleven women.
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But, the new PM has also introduced a few non-political ministers into the mix and brought back a few names from the New Labour era.
1. Patrick Vallance
Vallance became a well-known name during the Covid pandemic, as the UK’s then-chief scientific adviser.
He regularly appeared in briefings alongside then-PM Boris Johnson and the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, although he left this role in April 2023 once his fixed five-year term was over.
He was knighted two years ago and will now receive a peerage so he can go to parliament.
He supported Labour’s flagship manifesto pledge to introduce a publicly owned energy company earlier this year.
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Starmer has decided to appoint him as a science minister under science, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle.
2. Richard Hermer
A KC from Matrix chambers – which was co-founded by Tony Blair’s wife Cherie – Hermer has been appointed as the attorney general.
That means he will oversee the government’s legal department, serious fraud office and the crown prosecution service.
He will get a life peerage so he can sit in the cabinet.
Hermer was among many Jewish lawyers who warned that Israel’s retaliation to the October 7 attack from Hamas should be within the confines of international law.
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He has also spoken at Labour conference and donated £5,000 to Starmer’s campaign.
His appointment means Emily Thornberry – who was shadow attorney general – has now lost out on a place in cabinet.
Smith held six roles in Blair’s government, and was promoted to be the first female home secretary under Gordon Brown.
Smith resigned in 2009 over a series of expenses scandals and in the 2010 general election her seat went to the Conservatives.
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Starmer is now giving her a life peerage so that she can return to government as a higher education minister, reporting to education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
This is the same role Smith held under Blair, 25 years ago.
I am incredibly proud to be returning to @educationgovuk working with the enormously impressive @bphillipsonMP in a job which is crucial for ensuring opportunities for all and contributing to the government’s central mission to deliver growth. 😀 https://t.co/r0ppaXCqtG
Alexander held multiple ministerial roles in the New Labour years, including transport secretary and Scotland secretary under Blair, and international development secretary under Gordon Brown.
He was the shadow work and pensions secretary and shadow foreign secretary under Ed Miliband, too.
However, he has not been in parliament for the last nine years as he lost his seat in 2015 when the SNP swept through Scotland.
He was just elected in a new seat – Lothian East– last week and is now a business minister in Starmer’s government.
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It is a huge privilege to be asked to serve and I’m really looking forward to getting down to work… https://t.co/uid9Fw5JZz
Rehabilitation campaigner and CEO of the Timpson Group – which regularly employs former prisoners – James Timpson is now the prisons minister.
Starmer praised the businessman in his news conference on Saturday, saying he had invested “a huge amount over many years” into rehabilitating offenders and that he was “very pleased” to appoint him as a minister.
Timpson is also chair of the Prison Reform Trust charity which looks to reduce imprisonment and improve conditions for inmates and families.
On BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the former health secretary – who is widely expected to put herself forward as a contender to be the next Tory leader – said the Conservatives needs to “act on those values” in the party which voters support.
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Alluding to the meagre 121 seats the Tories took in the election, Kuenssberg asked Atkins: “What went wrong with your values then?”
Atkins replied: “We know that the country, actually, is instinctively Conservative, if you look, people want lower taxes.”
“Do you think the country is still instinctively Conservative when they booted you out? You’ve got your worst defeat ever.” The BBC host hit back.
Atkins said: “In terms of their values, their instincts, they are, I believe, still instinctively Conservative.
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“They want lower taxes, they want to build a better future for their children, they want to help them thrive in their personal lives, and in their livelihoods.”
“Those values are important to us all,” she added.
It’s worth noting that Conservatives took just 24% of the vote share overall on Thursday.
So Kuenssberg pushed: “What was it that went wrong, though?
“The country has dramatically kicked you out.
“This was not the standard defeat. Labour won a landslide. What was it that was wrong?”
Atkins said it was about “trust” with voters, but refused to outline what the party will actually do next, saying that the parliamentary party has not reconvened since the abysmal general election.
Shortly after Labour secured a landslide victory and the Conservatives endured a historic loss, the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg asked one of Putin’s top aides what this could mean for international relations between the two countries.
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“Ah, it’s you!” Lavrov said with a chuckle upon seeing the famous BBC journalist.
Rosenberg replied: “It’s me, yes… Do you think anything will change in UK-Russian relations?”
“Diplomacy is not an art of guessing,” Lavrov said, staring back at the reporter.
There was a pause while Rosenberg waited for further explanation, before he said: “What is it?”
Lavrov replied: “You know the saying about the pudding? You understand that this is a pudding when you eat it.”
The UK has been resolutely on Ukraine’s side ever since Putin chose to invade the country back in 2022.
And, like many Western countries, it has tried to hit Russia’s economy by weaning itself off Russian oil and gas exports, and imposing sanctions.
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Lavrov’s comments come after Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said he does not think Labour’s victory will alter anything between the two countries.
He told Sky News: “This is domestic affairs for Great Britain, so as far as we understand it, it can hardly influence the Russian-Britain relationship.”
Asked if thought Putin would ever “welcome” Keir Starmer to the Kremlin, Peskov said: “It is very much unlikely.”
Pressed over what it would take for Starmer to get an invitation, Peskov said: “Putin is open to contact. This is Britain, this is London, that insists there shouldn’t be any continuation of dialogue.”
Peskov said he did not think the Russian president would be phoning Starmer to congratulate him on his win any time soon, saying: “Britain is quite hostile towards our country. Why should we do it?”
“There are things I want to do with the days I have left in life,” the Anchorman actor wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
“I want to work with Shirley MacLaine,” she continued, referring to the Academy Award-winning actor. “And do shots with Cher!”
“And yes my days are so big,” she added. “Just saying.”
In 2021, while shooting the Netflix series Dead to Me, Christina was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, also known as MS, a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms can include cognitive issues, slurred speech, mood disturbances and numbness in limbs, according to the Mayo Clinic.
She co-hosts a podcast about living with MS, MeSsy, with Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Some would-be stars are so eager to be in the next season of Bridgerton that they’ve been bombarding casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry’s inbox with “unsolicited” videos.
While appearing on the latest episode of the Should I Delete That? podcast, Kelly, who has worked on the Netflix period drama since it first aired in 2020, admitted that NSFW clips land in her inbox like clockwork.
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“It’s every day … I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited,” she told the podcast’s hosts, Em Clarkson and Alex Light. “It’s sex basically.
“It’s not actual sex but it’s quite punchy. … It’s not nudie pictures, but it’s not far off.”
She added: “It’s a bit sad, really.”
Kelly went on to reveal that many of the actors who reach out hoping to join the romance series want to star as Sophie Beckett despite the role not being officially confirmed yet.
In Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novels, Sophie is the love interest of Benedict Bridgerton (played by Luke Thompson in the Netflix series).
Luke Thompson in Bridgerton
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
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It’s probably not too shocking for actors to submit racy clips considering the popular show is known for its steamy scenes.
Back in May, Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, revealed that she took on some especially steamy scenes in the recently released third season in order to shut down trolls who criticised her appearance.
“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” the Derry Girls recalled of collaborating with the series’ intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot.
“There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice,” she added. “It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”
