FAIRYTale Food Safari has a happy, healthy ending and a motto that author Angela Stafford, of Alexandra Hills, hopes many children might follow.
Angela, 38, wrote and illustrated the book as a whole food family compendium and cook book, but targeting children.
"I want the children to fall in love with real food. The book chats about processed food, but all in a fairytale style. The aim is to encourage children to eat healthy food," she said.
The book contains illustrations and colour photos of food and also offers creative tips that make the food exciting, palatable and enticing for the young eater.
"The recipes are there and they can be followed, but they can also be changed to suit people's tastes and pantries," she said.
A useful tip in the book is Angela's suggested "goodies box", which she fills and freezes when she has "a spare hour".
"I put things in it like bliss balls, muesli bars, muffins, containers of dips. When it's a rush, the boys can take what they want out of there instead of going for packets of things," she said.
"It's about better organisation of time. If you are cooking a curry or something, always do double or triple and freeze. I soak 1kg of chick peas at a time and divide them into bags and freeze. It's better than using the tinned ones. It's about foresight really."
The book follows an earlier book entitled Wild Vegans, originally self published and later published by New Holland in 2005. This book spans her journey as a vegetarian for 15 years and draws on recipes created while travelling internationally.
Fairytale Food Safari, however, stems from her sons', Ethan, 10, and Ryan, 8, interest in food.
"I wanted to give them the best start in life. This book looks at nutrition and how the body works. This is my journey without actually telling that story of raising healthy kids," she said.
Angela has illustrated the book with various photos of her sons and included some of their illustrations.
Angela said she was now working on a blog site for recipes and extra tips. She was also planning cooking classes. More on angelaswildkitchen.com
Fairytale Food Safari is hard cover, brightly illustrated and over 300 pages. It is available on www.funkidscook book.com for $49.95. The book is available for the next week on special for $39.95. There is also an ebook format.
Wild Vegan is available (paperback) for $25.
