Story on a Plate – A Lovely Idea to get Fussy Eaters Interested in their Food!

STORY ON A PLATE: ROGER MCGOUGH CBE PENS TEATIME TALES TO ENCOUR

This is a guest post, I’m being lazy but I’m swamped! I love the idea and toddler Pregnantcitygirl is not eating well at all so I definitely want one of these!
– Best-selling author & poet Roger McGough re-writes family teatimes –

One of Britain’s most renowned children’s authors has written his latest book directly onto plates to encourage kids to eat their food. In a publishing first, Roger McGough CBE has penned a series of teatime tales for 3-10 year olds as part of a nationwide campaign by Birds Eye to make teatimes more enjoyable for families.

McGough, who famously helped write The Beatles’ hit movie Yellow Submarine and has sold over one million books worldwide, was commissioned by the frozen food giant to pen seven short stories – one teatime tale for each day of the week. The ‘Story on a Plate’ initiative will see Birds Eye give away more than 250,000 plates for free through Sainsbury’s and Morrisons stores nationwide over the next three months.

The appointment of McGough follows a study of over 2,000 British mums that found half (50 per cent) consider teatime to be the most stressful part of their day. A further 40 per cent of mums admit that they struggle to get their children to the dinner table and a staggering 86 per cent concede that their child rarely finishes the food on their plate.

According to the findings, almost one in three (29 per cent) said their child will only eat off their favourite or personal plate and three-quarters of children (75 per cent) lose interest during teatime.

Written to entertain kids as they eat, McGough’s teatime tales follow the adventures and culinary discoveries of Birds Eye mascot Clarence the Polar Bear – the talking puppet voiced by actor Willem Dafoe – from his home in the Arctic to the UK, where he currently resides. The book has also been made into a cartoon voiced by Roger McGough CBE http://youtu.be/oKFLtLiyPbY.

The ‘Story on a Plate’ initiative is the latest in a list of over 50 children’s books by McGough, whose career also includes two BAFTAs, two Signal Awards for children’s poetry and a CBE for his services to literature – he is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Roger McGough CBE comments:
“I was delighted to take up the challenge offered by Birds Eye as it afforded an opportunity to take poetry out of the library, the classroom and the bookshop, and via the supermarket reach a wide audience of youngsters who may not read books. Meal times needn’t be fractious, nor poetry boring. Poetry on plates? Eat up and read on.”

Margaret Jobling, Birds Eye’s Marketing Director, comments:
“We know that teatime isn’t always easy for mums and for many it can feel like a daily struggle to feed their children food they feel happy serving – and which they will also eat. We work hard to create teatime solutions that leave kids full and happy, and the ‘Story on a Plate’ initiative with Roger McGough CBE is designed to arm mums with another tool to create teatimes that are fun and enjoyable for the whole family.”

The plates are available through participating Sainsbury’s and Morrisons stores from Wednesday 4 September. For further information visit www.facebook.com/BirdsEye.

 

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