‘Lettuce chips’ are this mum’s ingenious way to get her kids to eat salad – but some parents aren’t buying it

Culinary pro Kathleen Ashmore’s tried-and-true tip for introducing vegetables into her kids’ diets is to use “lettuce chips,” or cut-up pieces of romaine lettuce dipped in her homemade red pepper vinaigrette.

The recipe developer turned food blogger, who has millions of followers across social media platforms where she regularly posts her recipes, swears other parents will be “shocked” at the amount of lettuce their kids will munch on if they serve this flat.

“This is how I get my kids to eat a whole head of lettuce,” she said in a viral video posted to Instagram and TikTok, showing how she cuts a head of lettuce into sized “chips.” of a bite that makes it “fun” for his children to “eat salad”.

She explained that the pieces of romaine lettuce serve as a spoon for the delicious red pepper vinaigrette, a recipe she also shared on her platforms.

“Honestly, it seemed like a natural way to serve lettuce to my young children. Everything seems more fun to eat when you can use your fingers, especially for kids,” she told The Post in an email.

“Since I make a lot of homemade salad dressings, I thought I’d cut the romaine lettuce into chip-sized pieces and let them pick up the dressing. When I emptied the plate, there was not a single lettuce “chip” left, and yet they had already refused the salad with a fork.

While some thought the hack was ingenious, other parents were divided and voiced their thoughts in the comments, where Ashmore warned “crazy people” that her kids “eat a lot of chips and tortillas too.”

“If we want to extrapolate that, we have chicken fingers which, of course, aren’t actually fingers, but look a bit like them, we have an ice cream cake which isn’t a cake at all, just ice cream in the shape of a cake,” Ashmore told the Post.

“It’s just a fun way to think about food.” It’s not a case of one or the other, you can eat the vegetables and the chips and everything is fine.

While some parents praised Ashmore for her creative way of convincing children to eat their vegetables – of which they need one to four cups per day depending on age – others found it problematic that she labeled the raw lettuce like “chips”, claiming that their “Kids would never eat that.”

“No kid eats this,” one person joked on Instagram.

“I don’t think anyone is offended by lettuce. Just calling them chips sounds ridiculous,” added another.

Most of the time, it seemed like viewers had the most issues with the “nutritional value” of romaine lettuce, which several people falsely claimed contained none. While romaine lettuce has been touted as a “dieter’s dream” due to its low calorie content, it is also packed with vitamins A, C and K as well as folate, potassium, magnesium and calcium, according to Healthline.

“I don’t understand who would be upset about this,” one user commented on Instagram, comparing the nickname “chip” to calling broccoli “baby trees” for fun. “Besides being a fun way to eat lettuce, it’s simply a creative way to expose kids to eating vegetables.”

“As long as the kids eat it.” You can call lettuce whatever you want,” another user agreed, calling it “good advice.”

While some comments may “sting,” for every person she “triggers” there are also those she inspires, said Ashmore, whose other snack hacks also include adding mixed cauliflower frozen pancake batter and meatballs to increase her children’s vegetable intake.

“When you take risks, you trigger some and inspire others,” she told the Post. “I get messages ALL the time from tired moms who have made my recipes and used my ideas and their families are eating and feeling better because of it, which is why I share what I do. It’s always worth it.