Needless to say, cost-wise, "cool cuisine" is way ahead of the traditional fare.

A stubborn shake of the head is what you get when you ask Baani Sahni, a Class V student of Mount Carmel, to have a bite of paronthi. This little girl subsists on Choco-flakes in milk, chips, pizzas, patties, cake, chicken and an occasional chapatti. "The only saving grace," says her mother, Anshu Sahni, "is that she likes fruit and milk."

But Sanaa, her six-year-old is different. Given a choice, she can happily live on chicken and chane-ki-dal.

The eating habits of these sisters are no aberration. Most city kids are increasingly preferring to shun routine North Indian fare. Dr Suman Verma of the Child Development Department, Government Home Science College, attributes this to the glut of snacks in the market.

"Children today can choose from among a mind-boggling range of foodstuff which is aggressively advertised, prettily packaged and absolutely yummy. Their parents readily buy these goodies for them."

It's taste that draws Ekta, a Class VIII student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan Vidyalya, to what is dubbed junk food. "Sabzi is boring," she declares flatly and her mother complains that it's been months since Ekta went near it. Neha and Lavina, her classmates, second her opinion. "Roti," complains Lavina, "is too dry, even if taken with daal, and sabzi is too oily. The only time we feel like eating food at home is when we get rajma-chawal, chane-kulche, chicken or noodles."

A dream lunch for these girls is bhelpuri or burger with a cold drink followed by ice-cream.

A glass of milk is the single-course breakfast of many children, but that's mostly out of parental compulsion. "Milk stinks," says Harmanjit Singh, a nursery student of Ajit Karam Singh International Public School. He would rather guzzle aerated drinks.

Surprisingly, doctors don't support the traditional stress on milk. "It is not the ultimate diet," says Dr Inderjeet Kaur, a paediatrician. "It must be supplemented with cereals, porridge, sooji, and so on."

However, doctors do favour the conventional meals. "The tendency to eat chips and candies -- rich in starch and sugar but poor in proteins -- in place of food is worrying," says Dr Lata Kumar, head of the Paediatrics Department at the PGI. "It can lead to obesity and other disorders."

"Chocolates," says Dr Inderjeet, "cause tooth cavities, while preservatives, colouring agents, etc trigger allergies, constipation, cramps and even asthma. Chips kill appetite and cola makes kids hyperactive."

The findings of Anupama Grover, a lecturer in Home Science College, who studied nutritional status and food preferences among girls in the 16 to 18 age group, are even more alarming. Grover found that many girls were deficient in calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C -- these same girls were the ones who consumed the most junk food.

But these findings don't matter to children hankering for change. Parents, says Dr Inderjeet, can bring kids back to the dining table by serving "junk" ... but nutritious junk. More vegetables in noodles and a generous sprinkling of vegetables in burgers and pizzas can do the trick. "Mothers," she suggests, "must make the menu more colourful, besides giving adequate intervals between meals. Between meals, make value-added snacks available to the kids. Above all, they can make meals a happy family affair."

That's not asking for too much, is it?