They eat what we eat

Barring the initial stages of introducing solid foods, my kids have always eaten what we've eaten. At first their portions contained less salt, but never less herbs or spice (unless we were eating something really pepper-y). I never understood why people would feed their children bland meals. (Do you like chicken with nothing on it?) Or worse, make something tasteless while the adults eat something yummy. I want my children to have a developed palate and experience lots of flavors, so after they were 7 months old, I stopped cooking them "baby food."

I grew up eating prosciutto, crostini di fegato, and bottarga; chawan mushi, sushi, and sashimi; kimchi, cool noodles and kalbi; peking duck, dim sum, and thousand year old eggs, and I want my children to do the same. My mom made almost everything from scratch from pasta sauce to Korean mung mean pancakes, and, a barring the occassional foray into boxed mac and cheese- and Morningstar Farm-ville (I'm no martyr, trust me), I strive to do the same. I strongly believe that cooking good, fresh food (it doesn't have to be complicated at all) is the way to teach children to appreciate and enjoy food.

I'm sharing this in case you are worried about what your children can eat.  Of course, use your own best judgment, but my own kids have never had a problem eating adult food and my pediatrician actually encourages it. My mother-in-law has a peanut allergy, but around their first birthdays, they both tasted peanut butter sandwiches under careful scrutiny (and with 911 at the ready). They're fine. Reckless?  Maybe, but how else are you going to find out? And waiting until age three for nuts? That's just crazy to me. (I do understand the medical reasons behind it, but still, crazy.)

I'm not quite sure how picky eaters are created (or if they are born that way), but I have my own ideas. In general, though, I think if kids are exposed to lots of different foods in an environment where they see their parents cooking and enjoying lots of different foods, that's half the battle. Not forcing kids to eat or playing other "food games" is also important.  So is involving your child in meal preparation in age-appropriate ways.

Flip through cook books and cooking magazines with your children.  Bunny loves doing that.  She points to all the things she likes and we talk about what makes them so good. If you are lucky enough to have a garden that you eat from, I think that helps. (We have to settle for going to farmer's markets where the girls can taste everything.) Then again, kids really do have minds of their own, so who knows.

We don't have hard-and-fast rules about food in our house, but I do have guidelines I feel are important. We sit at the table and eat (no walking around with food). I serve lots of vegetables and fruits. We do try to limit sweets, but some juice is fine. We don't usually eat dessert, but when we do it's often fruit. They don't ever have to clear their plates, but they do have to taste new things (licking doesn't count). If they don't like what's for dinner and they are hungry they can have yogurt or an apple, but that option is rarely excersized. (I can think of one time Bunny went that route.)  Of the combination of things I serve for dinner, they can usually find something they like to eat.

Both kids started out eating everything and then Bunny, my four-year-old, developed her own ideas about what she liked and how she liked them. She doesn't really flat-out refuse much of anything (cooked pineapple, bean sprouts, cooked spinach, and raw fish come to mind), rather, she's particular about how she wants it served: pasta without "too much tomato sauce," for example.

Wallie, my two-year-old (tomorrow!), still eats mostly everything, but we expect some pickiness to be rearing its head soon.

Until then, we continue to put what were eating in front of them (wild salmon, rice, broccoli, salad):

And they continue to gobble it up (Wallie asked for three helpings of salad and seconds of salmon, Bunny asked for more rice. Dessert is frozen grapes):

Why do I cook the way I do?  It's partly for me and partly for my children. The fact that they will eat it? Why yes, I do feel lucky! And proud!

Comments

[Croft]

I feed my daughter much the same way. After I introduced the initial foods (which I made/pureed myself) she started eating what we ate, at first with less salt, but now I basically give her it as we eat it (lots of herbs and garlic galore). She has not yet mastered the spoon (15 months), and loves to feed herself so most of the food is made "finger ready" for her to shovel into her mouth. And like your girls she eats everything! My MIL who has a bland pallet thinks it is silly that my daughter loves hummus, tofu and anything with garlic. She finds this "strange" food for a baby.

Only problem we have is that I would love to have family dinners, but since she has a 7pm bedtime and my husband usually does not get home till then or sometimes later, she eats on her own. How do you handle this or is it not an issue in your home?

[Kateri]

I had my niece and nephew pretty much exclusively when they were babies and toddlers. My niece is particularly picky...I work around that by allowing her to help me in the kitchen whenever they come over for dinner. She will eat (or at least try) anything that she has a hand in preparing. And, I have to admit, I am a lot like her as well...I could never eat seafood until I started making it myself!

I also think that kid-friendly plates and utencils help make mealtime more exciting.

[CityMama]

Croft, most weeknights it's just me and the girls. J. gets home later than when they eat dinner. I don't particularly like eating my own dinner at 5.30 when they are hungry, but I do it to spend the time with them.

On weekends we make up for lost time and eat all our meals together (as much as possible).

[liz]

Not that it's a particularly sophisticated choice, but my son started scarfing down nachos when he was 7 months old, onions, salsa, pointy chips, spicy meat, sour cream and guacamole, he loved it all. It's still his favorite order at a restaurant at age 14. His favorite snack is chips and salsa and he makes his own guac.

My other son has always liked unusual stuff like calamari, raw oysters, buffalo, ostrich, alligator, but he won't touch anything with a sauce on it. He doesn't like anything that his grandma makes because to her, it's not dinner unless it has a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom in it. Unfortunately, now that they are teenagers, fast food is their mainstay because they have open campus at lunch. I hope they return to their food roots when they get older.

[Melanie]

My daughter (now 9.5) liked most things as a 1-2yr old, then went through a "bland" phase (even when we lived in Italy!) of wanting only things like pasta with butter/olive oil or mac & cheese (though she did branch out a bit to prosciutto and rabbit ravioli). I was afraid she would never enjoy the things her dad & I regularly eat, but over the past 3 years she has consistently expanded her horizons & now eats exactly what we eat (ouch! says the pocketbook).

My son (now 6) has always eaten what we eat--never went through that "bland-it-down" phase(and the pocketbook says double ouch!)

When they went to bed earlier, we didn't have a family dinner time, but we do now.

[Jules]

This post is perfect. I went through so much anguish with Bubby over what he would eat because he's always been so skinny (even as a baby). That anxiousness to get him to eat turned him into a less-than-adventurous eater. He DOES eat much better than lots of pre-schoolers we know, but he still refuses to try certain things.

However, since Des started eating solids, he eats everything and his big brother has added a few more things I thought he'd never eat.

Also however, I almost never cook something separate for my kids. We usually make it through with what's on the table. There is no way I'm cooking a different meal for everyone in this house every night.

Hopefully we're on the right track.

PS - love the look of FamilyFood right now~

[The Aitch]

OMG! I have the same exact rule that Lits cannot walk around with food. Even a graham cracker she has to sit down and eat it.

I wish her pallet was more expanded than it is but I have made it a rule that she eats what we eat and yes she has to try it. I do not make her "special" meals just so she will not go hungry. Thankfully my ped told me early on that she isn;t going to starve herself so I am not manic about making sure she eats. I know she will.

She doesn't have to eat it all of what's infront of her but she has to eat least have a bite. We do have dessert and for her it is always fruit. She loves mandarin oranges and peaches.

Now if I could only get her to eat veggies!