Baby food makes nonsensical resurgence as weight loss snack food

Baby food’s not just for infants and people with paraphilic infantilism anymore. Since eating fruit and cooking at home is apparently too much of a challenge nowadays, people are resorting to Gerber to lose weight. A Globe lifestyle piece interviews people who say they are “hooked on” and “addicted” to baby food because of its small portions, cost, tastiness and convenience. It’s an interesting choice of words to describe a love of the stuff, since the last time this was a food trend was during the drug-fuelled raves of the ’90s.

The trend has its share of detractors. Dietitian Rosie Schwartz says, “People won’t eat [baby food] because it is really bland,” adding that the colourful goop doesn’t have the same nutrients found in whole fruits—the kind that adults eat. And from an economical angle, on an ounce-for-ounce basis, a jar of regular applesauce costs less than a jar of baby applesauce.

One of the people interviewed says that more people would eat baby food if the jars didn’t have images of babies on them. The same could be said about Puppy Chow, of course, but like this baby food trend, that is for the dogs.

• Hungry for a snack? Try baby food [Globe and Mail]