New Alexa Skill Helps Kids Eat Plant-Based

Sophie Sprout, an audio skill that launched last month for Amazon Alexa, encourages children to eat healthier by playing songs about fruit, vegetables, and plant-based proteins. Created by organic baby food company Sprout Foods in collaboration with creative agency Walrus, the app features a main narrator named Sophie Sprout (a talking plant) to urge young children to engage in food-themed songs and eating adventures. Sprout Foods, the first company to introduce a complete line of plant-based purées and snacks with protein from chickpeas, lentils, and beans, created the app to help promote plant-based eating. “Research shows that starting babies on healthy foods early in development helps foster healthy eating habits through life,” Walrus public relations representative Susan Gerson told VegNews. “Teaching a baby to accept savory and complex flavors, like leafy greens, can be challenging when young palates naturally gravitate towards sweet fruits. With Sprout’s new Amazon audio skill, parents can now ask for songs and sounds that help make mealtime engaging and exciting for babies and toddlers, without the use of screens on smartphones and tablets.” Sprout also plans to create a similar voice-enabled app for Google Home.