How Do You Eat Color?

Filipina author Mabi David, a sustainable farmer and plant-based cook, hopes her book will encourage children (and their parents or caregivers) to be curious about fruits and vegetables and to discover new ways to include them in their diet. David’s poetic narrative and illustrator Yas Doctor’s bright, inviting artwork provide a welcome mat to accomplish that goal.

Stimulating questions invite readers into a day-long exploration of colors in the natural world and the relationship between taste and the colors exhibited in the fruits and vegetables they eat: “Do you know how red tastes? Does it tickle the tongue? Is green sweet and cold like your favorite sorbet? Can yellow be as yummy as blue?”

As the day progresses, the children encounter the green of moringa and leafy greens; the red of tomatoes, red beans, and hibiscus flowers; the yellow of pineapples, mangos, corn on the cob, and bananas; the white of coconut juice, parsnips, onions, and garlic; the orange of carrots; and the purple of yams and plums.

In the author's notes, David explains the benefits of red beans, mangos, bitter melons, moringa, and more. She also explains why it is beneficial to people’s health to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, and how families can eat more colors together.

This informative and cheerful children’s picture book points to God’s incredibly diverse creation of food and the ways he designed that various foods can help people thrive in different ways.

(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers)