Adventures at the Table
Young Children Can be Culinary Explorers -- You Just Have to Guide Them
You'd be surprised what kids would do if you'd let them.
— Sue Muncaster, editor of "Teton Family Magazine" and board co-chairwoman of Slow Foods in the Tetons
Nathan Cyr likes his cheddar sharp, his chocolate dark and his marinated fish ceviche. This Idaho 4-year-old bucks conventional wisdom, which claims that young children won’t eat anything but bland, unintimidating food. While it’s true many kids like to stick with familiar dishes, their natural curiosity underlies a real potential for adventurous eating.
Any parent who has made macaroni and cheese four nights in a row knows the frustration of catering to a young child’s palate. But you don't have to become a short-order cook in your own kitchen to keep the whole family happy. Even preschoolers can and will eat the food everyone else at home enjoys.
Those early years offer the best opportunity to establish a habit of adventurous eating, as slightly older children tend to resist change more, explained Anne Fishel, an associate clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and board member of The Family Dinner Project, a grass-roots movement promoting the benefits of family dinners.
The Journey Starts at Home
Making mealtime a cherished family ritual sets a tone likely to last a lifetime, said Sue Muncaster, editor of “Teton Family Magazine” and co-chairwoman of Slow Food in the Tetons. Part of that means involving your children in the preparation.
At 2, Muncaster’s son Nico eagerly followed his mom into the kitchen to help measure and mix ingredients. By age 8, daughter Mariela regularly cooked breakfast and dinner for the whole family, browsing cookbooks to find new recipes. Yes, kids make a mess of the kitchen, but just let it go, Muncaster said. The esteem-boosting sense of accomplishment your kids will gain from cooking will far outlast the sticky fingerprints on the refrigerator door.
Even if your children don’t show early signs of celebrity chef potential, you can improve their culinary comfort level by giving them some control over what they eat. Take your children to the grocery store and let them choose the night’s vegetable or meat, Muncaster suggested. Plan menus with build-your-own entrees such as personal pizzas, tacos and mixed salads, then let the kids assemble their own meals.
Better yet, enlist their help in the garden or take them to visit a farm. Knowledge about where the food they’re about to eat comes from often translates into enthusiasm for eating it.
Travel the Globe One Meal at a Time
If you eat meat and potatoes every night and shun anything more exotic than a french fry, your children won’t know what to do when they are faced with falafel. You have to be the role model. If you enjoy your food and have fun trying something new, your children will, too, Fishel said.
Introducing a global variety of foods at an early age sets the pace for a lifetime of adventure at the table, as Joe Jacobs of Corning, New York, can attest. His father, David, an enthusiastic home cook and well-traveled foodie, filled family mealtimes for his young boys with the things he liked to eat.
When Joe turned 9, Dad took him to Primi Piatti, an upscale Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., to celebrate. Following a familiar routine, the host asked Joe if he wanted a kid's menu. “No,” Joe replied, “I’m having the osso buco.”
You don’t need a passport to experience the flavors of the world. International cookbooks provide recipes for everything from the trendiest Asian fusion to obscure folk cuisine; grocery stores and specialty food shops nationwide stock products from around the globe. Anything you can’t find locally you can almost surely order online.
If you’re not the most creative cook, take advantage of your town’s ethnic restaurants. Just skip the children's menu with its ubiquitous grilled cheese.
Expect the World
“You’d be surprised what kids would do if you’d let them,” Muncaster said. From eating an oyster to rolling sushi, most children enjoy trying new things. It’s often their parents’ attitudes that hold them back. If you expect your children to dislike certain foods, chances are they’ll comply. If you suggest they won’t be willing to try something, they’re probably listening.
Chef David Kratky, owner of The Laughing Pear Group in Park City, Utah, said he’s noticed an increase in client requests for upscale children’s menus at catered parties. He accomplishes this by tweaking a typical adult item to make it more kid-friendly, such as buffalo burger sliders, or glamming a kid's dish with more sophisticated ingredients, including his crab macaroni and cheese. You can try this approach at home to introduce the classic lamb and mint pairing in the form of mini meatballs, or turn a taco into a chance to try adzuki beans.
Developing children’s curiosity for food not only increases the likelihood they’ll receive all the necessary nutrients their developing bodies and brains need; it also improves the chance that they’ll embrace new experiences in general. Muncaster says it helped her children adapt quickly when the family moved to Argentina.
Tips & Warnings
Don't force the issue with your children. Offer new foods in a supportive and fun atmosphere, but leave the choice to try them up to your children. Never bribe your children with dessert – it sends a message that icky vegetables or scary new foods must be endured to get the "good" stuff.
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