Editing D.W., the Picky Eater (episode)

{{EpisodeHeader|1|book1=[[D.W., the Picky Eater (book)|of the same name]]|3|2}}

[[D.W Read|D.W]].'s reluctance to eat unfamiliar food will keep the whole family from celebrating [[Grandma Thora|Grandma Thora's]] birthday at a special restaurant, unless Arthur can persuade her to be more open-minded.

One night at dinner, D.W. lists off more foods to an annoyed Arthur that she dislikes. [[David Read|David]] serves everyone Hawaiian shrimp (a new recipe). As the rest of the family, including Kate, enjoys the shrimp, D.W. immediately refuses to eat it because they're "from the smelly fish family". Arthur tells D.W. that she doesn't like anything. D.W. disagrees, and states that she likes to eat peanut butter and jelly, strawberries birthday cake and chocolate (without nuts).

The next night, the Read family goes out to eat at [[Unnamed Restaurant|a restaurant]]. David orders a steak, Jane orders soup, Arthur orders fried chicken, and D.W. orders a salad. She immediately removes the cucumbers, mushrooms, and onions but when she finds out that there's also spinach in the salad instead of lettuce, she angrily pounds the table with her fists, which sends the salad flying into the air. It lands on [[Waiter (D.W., the Picky Eater)|the waiter]], shocking all the other customers. The waiter decides to quit his job and marches away, much to  David and Jane's anger.  

When the family returns, Grandma Thora asks if they had a good time and Arthur explains all the trouble D.W. had caused. Jane says she will not take D.W. to any more restaurants until she proves that she can behave better by controlling her behaviour and eating what she is given. Arthur asks about Grandma Thora's birthday party at the [[Once Upon a Restaurant]] next week and Jane explains that D.W. will not be joining them. While Arthur is secretly happy about this, Grandma Thora asks to instead have her birthday at their house because she wouldn't enjoy it without D.W. being there. Arthur gets mad at this and wonders if he has to do everything with his little sister, imagining that he is an astronaut who is denied a space trip to Jupiter because D.W. isn't there with him. While marking off days on his calendar alongside his dog [[Pal]], Arthur decides that he has to convince D.W. to like spinach.

Their waiter (the same one who quit in the beginning of the episode) arrives with their food: Jane and David's [[Tweedledee and Tweedledum lobsters]], Arthur's [[Wicked Witch Weenies|Wicked Witch weenies]], and D.W.'s [[Little Bo Peep pot pie]]. All eyes are on D.W. as she takes a bite of the pie. To their delight, D.W. thinks her food was delicious and eventually digs in. The waiter looks especially relieved that he won't be covered in food again. Towards the end of the meal, D.W. says she loves the Little Bo Peep pot pie and would eat it every day if they made it for her at home. David eventually asks the waiter for the recipe. The waiter tells him that it is simple to make; a pie pastry is used and has to be filled with a tremendous amount of spinach. D.W. gasps and everyone stares at her in horror. To their surprise, D.W. says she loves spinach now. Arthur rolls his eyes as she finishes the rest of her pie with a smile.

*[[Bailey]](cameo)

*[[Mrs. Wood]](cameo)

*[[Mr. Samuels]](cameo)

*[[Timmy and Tommy Tibble|Timmy Tibble]](cameo)

*The waiter who had a bowl of spinach salad land on his head and the waiter at the [[Once Upon a Restaurant]] (who tells her the Little Bo Peep pot pie is full of Spinach) is the same character. The reason is that he got a new job at Once Upon a Restaurant after quitting his old job at the restaurant where D.W. caused trouble by punching her salad while having a tantrum about spinach. He was kind enough to ask D.W. if something was wrong (e.g. "Is something the matter"?). He also said, "That's it! I quit" when he got mad with a headful of spinach salad with the dressing dripping off of his head.

*A fan has found a reference to another media character. The woman who gives The Reads their menus at Once Upon a Restaurant. The outfit she wears greatly resembles that of the Harvey cartoon character, Wendy the Good Little Witch. Since Once Upon a Restaurant is fairy-tale themed, it is more likely to be Little Red Riding Hood because of the brown clothing up front and red hood and because Little Red Riding Hood is well known among fairy tale characters. There is still some possible reference to Wendy because of the blonde hair and red outfit.

*When D.W. is listing foods she enjoys, she doesn't specify ''which type ''of birthday cake she enjoys. (chocolate, vanilla, etc.)

*The computer voice in Arthur's fantasy is Mr. Ratburn. (or at least sounds similar to him)

*Someone who looks a lot like Buster's mother can be glimpsed at the restaurant, as the Reads' boat first starts out toward their table.

*It is revealed in this episode that D.W. hates fish, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes, Lima beans, tapioca, stinky cheese, and olives.

* This is the only Season 2 episode based on a book.

*In 2015, the episode was made available freely on the official ''Arthur'' website as part of the nutrition section of a feature titled [[Arthur family health]]. The episode can be watched [http://pbskids.org/arthur/health/nutrition/episode.html here] It is also available on the PBS KIDS Video app and website.

*The scene of D.W. throwing a bowl of spinach at the waiter became the popular meme as it appears in many YouTube videos.

*[[Muffy Crosswire|Muffy]] is also a picky eater.

*In the book, Kate went out with the family. In the episode, she stayed at home with Grandma Thora.

*After hearing the main ingredient is spinach, D.W. said she loves spinach, In the Book she is surprise and disgusted to hear that.