Eating healthily can be tricky for any family, so one mother in Australia found a novel way to make mealtimes fun with a little creativity.
Laleh Mohmedi started an incredibly popular Instagram page for her son Jacob's healthy meals. The designs—mostly inspired by film and cartoon characters—are made out of meats, veggies, and grains.
The Instagram account, named Jacob's Food Diaries, now has more than 130,000 followers.
She said:
"I turned my son's spelt (an alternative to flour) pancakes into a lion for a bit of fun—he absolutely loved it and it progressed from there."
“I have always enjoyed making healthy kids' recipes but I am a five-hit wonder with adult food! My husband is an executive chef so he mainly cooks at home for us."
Laleh said the meals don't take too long to make.
All get served warm.
She said:
“To save time I make all the cold elements of the creations, for example the eyes, whilst the hot elements are cooking—then it's just a matter of plating. I can assure you that all meals are served warm!"
“Creating life-like faces are very hard and its nerve wracking putting them up just in case they see them and get offended!"
Melbourne-based Laleh made meals inspired by Mickey Mouse...
...Finding Nemo...
... and real celebrities such as Will Smith in his Fresh Prince of Bel Air days.
Laleh's creations show a great deal of diversity.
Beyond Disney and children's programs, there are depictions of live action characters like the late Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight.
She is even taking requests!
Laleh's favorite is a character from Up, made out of chicken, mashed potato dyed with beetroot juice, red bell pepper and asparagus.
The Melbourne mom said:
“My favourite character would have to be the one I made of Carl Fredrickson from Up as a Thanksgiving roast—it cracks me up every time!"
She made the character Carl Fredricksen from Up several times in several forms.
Carl is a holiday favorite for Laleh.
And even just for fun!
As well as her popular Instagram account, Laleh has a YouTube page where she demonstrates how to make her creations.
Laleh gives step by step directions that people can follow along.
Here she is making Jack Jack from The Incredibles.
Laleh said:
“I would love to publish a book that would include healthy recipes and creations for parents and children…"
“Just waiting on the publishers to come knocking!"
Here's a compilation video of some of Laleh's incredible work:
Maybe someday, Laleh will get her wish. Until then, people can continue to enjoy the fun healthy creations on Instagram and YouTube.
A version of this article originally appeared on Press Association.
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