MetroDad has an interesting post on feeding babies which is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. His 9-month-old is now devouring all manner of foods that make his "foodie" heart (and mine!...and I hate that term more than "mommy blogger") proud. She eats olives and gnocchi and dim sum...like my baby!
With both of my girls, after an initial month or so of introducing basic foods so they could practice eating, we were off and running. We mostly stay away from berries, peanuts, and honey the first year (Bunny had strawberries at around 10-months-old and Wallie has eaten peanut noodles), but other than that, anything goes. I am a firm believer that allowing children to eat a wide variety of varied foods—even foods and cuisines you might not eat or like—makes for healthy, open-to-anything, non-picky children.
Case-in-point, Bunny, who charms the pants off our green grocer by munching on a carrot and a piece of raw broccoli as we make our way through the grocery store. She eats every fruit and vegetable. Yes, even onions, cabbage, and spinach. her favorite snack is raw sugar snap peas. She eats a whole apple or pear every day. I keep a big basket of fruit on the counter and she can help herself at any time. Left to her own devices she could eat an entire pound of cherries or 6 apricots in a row, but in the interest of her GI (ahem) comfort, we limit those. I do allow juice and the occassional sweet treat, but I don't usually keep refined sugary foods in the house.
I grew up bouncing back and forth between Rome, Italy (where my dad lives) and Honolulu, Hawaii (where my mom lives) before my family settled in the San Francisco area. Honolulu is a cosmopolitan city which attracts people from all over the the world. It is not uncommon to go to a party there and see a potluck smorgasbord of beef chow fun, chips and clam dip, Korean BBQ ribs, chili, green papaya salad, seviche, roast duck, Japanese cucumber pickles, suckling pig, and macaroni salad on the buffet table—plus a guy in the corner making sushi to order.
And at home, my Korean-American, Italian-speaking mom was making spicy mung bean pancakes for dinner one night, and spaghetti all'Amatricana the next. I literally grew up eating my pasta with kim chee. When my dad is in the states he loves to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken but must have a cold Pinot Grigio or Frascati wine to go with it. This is how I was raised. This is how I am raising my girls. And so far, despite what some commenters say on MetroDad's blog—even with Wallie's refusal to eat from 6- to 8-months old—so good.
