Healthy Edible Wearables for Kids of All Ages

Talented young Greek chef Eftychis (FT) Bletsas has started a trend on his weekly Greek television show. He's been wearing edible jewelry... made with healthy snack foods.

Here in Greece, high calorie snack foods are as much a problem as they are elsewhere. Kids, especially, are frequent consumers and can be seen flocking to neighborhood periptera (kiosks) during mid-morning school breaks, loading up on sugar and fats - so these edible wearables are a fabulous alternative - and, I'm told by my granddaughter, they can be quite a fashion statement! (We made the necklace in the photo at right using colors she chose to match her outfit - cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and raisins.)

The foods are strung together with heavy-duty thread (wash thread first if germs are a concern) and the snacks are eaten right off the jewelry. Favorites include raisins, baby carrots (or carrot sticks), walnuts, almonds, and any other healthy snack food of your choice. They can be mixed and matched, or made with just one favorite. Oh, and take a look at FT in his glorious "red pearls."

Great for healthy kids' snacks and for us adult kids as well!

Worried about stains on clothes? For foods that might stain, FT suggests wearing with an apron or bib (for little ones), or wrapping in plastic; however, my granddaughter wears hers on dark t-shirts and, so far, any and all stains have washed out.

_{Photo © N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.}

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