Picky Eating was a project born of personal experience for Hungry Founder, Megan Haupt. As someone who was a former picky eater and a new mother of her own picky eater, Megan found the majority of food education for children to be highly prescriptive and not at all representative of the significant role food and eating occupy in our lives.

Pre-C (the name is a combination of pre-cooking and PreK), a play-based class for children ages 2-4 and their parents or caregivers, was Hungry's first foray into a relationship-based approach to food education. To create Pre-C, Hungry looked at existing models of early childhood food education. Many classes in the US took an uninspired and instrumental approach of nutrition-based education with healthy food as the exclusive feature. Other classes were more entertainment in nature and consisted mainly of decorating cupcakes and cookies. Models outside of the US, included the Sapere Method, a sensory-based approach that encouraged children to lead themselves in discovery.

Hungry conducted months of research on topics such as play-based learning, smell, taste, and memory, early childhood learning, early childhood development, neophobia (picky eating), and early literacy and language skills. Based on this research and test classes to small groups, Hungry created a program of four weeks of classes, designed to reach even the pickiest of eaters, including children who were in treatment for feeding disorders. Each class included hands-on, tactile play, a simple recipe using whole food ingredients, and food themes explored through a playful approach, storytelling, dramatic play, movement, games, and music. Classes were limited to 10 children, and both parent(s) and child were required to participate.

Hungry found much success with the program and ran classes year-round for three years. The Picky Eating project grew to include large scale event activities for events of attendance of up to 50K, collaborations with academic and independent researchers, presentations to industry groups, and program design integration. Also, the Picky Eating project has yielded Hungry considerable consumer insight for young families dealing with picky eaters, parental concerns regarding food choices, and purchasing decisions based on personal food beliefs.

For the Picky Eating project, Hungry conducted all subject matter research along with outreach to industry professionals, designed all lessons and recipes, (including adaptations for food allergies, dietary restrictions, or feeding issues), researched and wrote all supporting educational material, designed and fabricated exhibit activities and staging, researched, wrote, and presented picky eating research to industry groups and professionals, screened, hired, and trained contract instructors to teach Pre-C classes, collected and analyzed data related to young families' food choices for picky and nonselective eaters.