Artichokes and sushi and turnips, oh my!
You’re at the country club with the grandparents—in the dining room that’s way too fancy for your kids—but without any theatrics, your child looks at the menu and says, “I’ll try the duck, please.” Or the broccoli sautéed in garlic. Or the bibimbap (that’s when you’re at Da Re Jung in Lincoln Square with your cool city friends).
Crazy, wild fantasy? Not if you have an adventurous eater.
And while nothing is going to turn the child whose mantra is “plain pasta, no sauce” into a sushi-eating, hot-sauce-loving foodie, you can at least get to the point where you aren’t worried about basic nutrition, and you can eat with friends and not fear a tantrum.
You’ll need to eat it before they eat it.
“An artichoke is scary if you’ve never seen one before,” admits Tia Raines, Ph.D., a nutrition researcher who lives in Wilmette. “But if you see your parents eating artichokes then it isn’t a big deal.”
Paradoxically, we can make our children more adventurous eaters by making new foods less of a big deal. Food that’s around, even if your child refuses to try it, is still something familiar and not so odd.
But if you won’t eat spinach or turnips or mushrooms and never have them in the house, then your child is going to refuse to eat them, too. So if you’re a picky eater, admit it, but make an effort. If you try new things, even just a bite, you’re setting a good example.
Make it taste good.
Millions of Americans hate Brussels sprouts and lima beans because we first had them over-cooked, boiled to death and mushy—I’m shuddering at the memory.
So if you’re trying something new, make sure it tastes great. What if the first time you had Brussels sprouts they were drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, then roasted and tossed with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice? It might now be a regular dish on your table.
Hugh Garvey, author of The Gastrokid Cookbook, tries to feed his two children—ages 8 and 5—without resorting to dreaded, breaded frozen things.
“They like more than you think,” he says, but he strongly advocates making sure food is delicious to both grown-up and child.
His advice is simple: When in doubt, add a little fat, salt and acid. Roast or sauté to caramelize the natural sugars, and don’t be shy about using what they already love to flavor or present something new. Garvey’s son—whose eating style is “brownavore,” i.e. he’ll eat almost anything brown–happily ate anchovies when they were presented on a homemade pizza.
Raines uses condiments her children love—ketchup, barbeque sauce and melted cheese as dips for vegetables. And even though you might not love cauliflower dipped in barbeque sauce, if it gets your 3 year old to eat cauliflower, what’s the problem?
Involve your children.
At a recent cooking class at Fuel in Wilmette, Meg Scarsella, pastry chef and cooking instructor, held up a spinach leaf for the children to see. Not much enthusiasm.
But she explained that they were going to cut the spinach into tiny pieces and put it in the meatballs they were making. When the children still seemed wary, she gave them a great example: “Would you eat a cup of flour?”
“No!”
“But would you eat a cup of flour if it was baked into cookies?”
“Yes!”
She then told the students, who were all elementary school age, that it was the same with the spinach. Alone, maybe they wouldn’t love it, but chopped up and cooked in a meatball, it would be delicious.
The children chopped and stirred and when the meatballs were served, they all happily ate them. Not one child mentioned the spinach.
Manners can’t hurt.
No matter how adventurous your child’s palate, eventually he or she will try something that doesn’t taste great. And it’ll probably happen at the fancy dinner with the grandparents. So teach your children how to politely try and decline food.
If they know they don’t have to finish it, they’ll be more willing to venture a bite.
“No thanks, that wasn’t my favorite.” Can be your family’s code for “I’ll throw up if you make me have another bite.” Your child tried the food, and that’s enough.
For more recipes that help make kids adventurous eaters, visit our “What’s for Dinner” section.
Remember, it’s really not about you.
Finally, don’t make food a power struggle.
“Forcing your child to eat makes negative associations with food,” Raines says. “Encourage, but try to keep meals pleasurable.”
Which isn’t always easy. But if you’re making Seared Salmon with Soy-Honey-Lime Sauce and they only take a bite, well then, more for you.
Cooking for your family is a gift. Not one that’s always going to be appreciated in the short term, but in the long-term, your child will learn to love (or at least not hate) new tastes and foods.
Garvey tells a great story about his mother cooking beef tongue when he was a child. He thought it was weird, but now as an adult he eats tacos made with beef tongue at his neighborhood taqueria.
“I appreciate that she made that for me and gave me those tastes as a kid that have stayed with me as an adult.”
Some day, your kids will say thank you for helping them become adventurous eaters—maybe not tomorrow—but eventually.
