my plate of view

Fruit Platter

Sometimes the best desserts don’t call for a recipe. Who can resist picking at a vibrant and delicious platter of fruit?

Fruit platters have become a staple at birthday parties for my family. My youngest daughter has multiple life threatening food allergies. She can not eat wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and beef.

When she was a baby it was easy to keep her away from food she was allergic to by just holding her in my arms. At the time, birthday parties and holiday menus included cheese snacks and ranch dips that could send her to the hospital if ingested. Back then my daughter was too little to notice that other kids were running around with fingers covered in bright orange cheese dust from those puffed cheese chips. But I noticed!

All around her I noticed food that would make her skin break out in a rash or in hives if she came in contact with it. All around her I noticed food that could cause serious respiratory issues or worse, cause her body to go into anaphylaxis if she ingested it. As she got older and was toddling around on her own and playing with her cousins at these parties things had to change. I had to speak up about what food was within her reach at parties. I couldn’t keep her in my arms away from dangerous food anymore. She was too young to understand why she could not eat what everyone else was eating. It was time for me to speak up about what was on the menu at other people’s houses.

Fortunately my family was on board with the menu changes. Everyone wanted to do their part to keep my daughter Evelyn safe. We now serve fruit and “Eve safe” snacks at family gatherings birthday parties. It has been a positive change. We are all eating healthier and less processed foods. Don’t get me wrong, we still indulge in “Eve safe” chips but those are even better quality chips with no food coloring than the chips chosen in the past.  About a year into the menu change it was to all of our amazement when at my nephew’s birthday party the fruit platter was empty before the chips!

I think that as a society we underestimate ourselves. We serve snacks which are highly processed and contain food coloring because we assume that is what our guests want. We think we have to offer junk food and candy to make a party fun. In reality our bodies want to be healthy, proof of this to me is in the empty fruit platter at that party. No one could resist the shiny grapes, the bold blueberries, the juicy watermelon, the sweet strawberries or the bright yellow pineapple! It’s nature’s candy. Next time you are hosting a birthday party or family get together, try switching up the snacks with healthy alternatives and let me know how it goes! You’ll be doing yourself and your family a healthy favor!

You can create a simple fruit salad or a fruit platter or you can turn a watermelon into a shark, a baby carriage or pirate ship! The ideas are endless.

That’s my plate of view, enjoy!