Food and the kitchen are a big part of my days. The topic and location are a center of my family’s time and conversations. The kids have a ton of questions about food and what it does to help us run properly, especially now that they understand that food is medicine, and they are comfortable verbalizing their interest and queries to me. I have books that cover food from growing it to dying yarn with it and from identifying herbs and spices (outdoors and in your food) to the traditional cookbooks. The kids have access to these books whenever they want to plus I’ve given them several books for their own perusal (I was always more prone to explore a topic if it was at my leisure). I suppose I should also admit that I watch food shows, read food-based magazines and read cookbooks like novels – they see my interest and respect for food and are trying to create their own opinions based on their knowledge.
There are foods that each of us are not fond of; A doesn’t like mushrooms or peppers, G doesn’t like onions or peppers, N doesn’t like basil or cantaloupe, W doesn’t like strawberries or pineapple or broccoli or oatmeal, Bill likes everything and I have weird dislikes (I like cooked onions but not raw, I don’t like tomato soup unless I’ve made it, I love raw carrots but dislike cooked carrots, etc.) I am a more textural eater than anyone in my family and my likes and dislikes sometimes stem from there (I don’t eat water chestnuts, they don’t have a flavor but they gross me out, I like the taste of pears but can’t eat them because they’re too mealy – silly stuff).
Something that I’ve worked hard at is finding a way to get healthy foods into our bodies without tricking anyone. I believe that if I have to trick them into eating healthy foods they’re only going to make healthy choices if I continue to trick them throughout their lives and I want them to have a healthier attitude toward food and their well-being even when I’m not looking over their shoulder. I don’t worry much with the fruit dislikes, all of the kids like apples, oranges, bananas and grapes. At least two of them like melons, pineapple, kiwi and berries – when I buy something new for them to try, they always try it even if they don’t totally dig it (star fruit – no, fresh cranberries – mixed reaction, pomegranate – not so into, musk melon – yes, plums – half and half, etc.); they really get into trying new fruits and veggies when we go to the farmer’s market and they get to see all that beautiful fresh food staring at them.
Part of what I do is to keep cooking with something that I know is good for us until we find a way that everyone enjoys it (or almost everyone). So far, everyone adores zucchini every way I make it (except sautéing it – too mushy), but we still have fun and explore different recipes using it. We try different things:
§ Broccoli will be eaten as a side dish but is enjoyed more when I toss it with oil, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and bake it.
§ Cooked spinach is not my favorite but I love to mix it with kale, nutmeg and feta cheese and bake it inside pizza dough.
§ Stuffed mushrooms are a family favorite and even A, who pouts when eating them on pizza or in a salad, digs them this way. I also found a recipe for a spicy creamy side dish with mushrooms.
§ I can’t cut onions (allergy or some other weird severe reaction to them) but if I cook with them, I’m ok with it – I found that buying dried chopped onions (from the bulk herb section) allows me to toss them into everything from soup to pasta or tuna salad and beyond.
§ Basil is one of my favorite fresh herbs and I was baffled when N said he didn’t like it. He will eat it as pesto or in a salad dressing (my two favorite ways to eat it) so that helps.
§ W doesn’t like oatmeal but it was important to us that we were teaching the kids to eat healthy, whole grain breakfasts so he needed to get over it. He will eat it but prefers brown rice or quinoa (see The Breakfast Switch for more information or ideas) so we are ok with him finding an alternative that equals it AND he will eat oatmeal from time to time.
§ Cauliflower is one of those weird foods that are good for you, and no one has an aversion to it but we don’t really enjoy it. I began exploring recipes to utilize it more and found a few that everyone seems to enjoy – cream of cauliflower (and cheese) soup and mashed cauliflower and potatoes; I also chop and dump them into my vegetable soup, whether it’s pureed or not, no one seems to notice.
Overall, we try to be good examples by eating different textures, colors and food groups with each meal. If one of us feels the need to pick something out of or off our food (for me, I pick green peppers off of my pizza or onions out of my salad) then we’ll allow them to pull that off, too. Overall, they’re not forced to eat foods they don’t like because they’ve learned to enjoy different kinds of foods and they know that there are ways to enjoy all foods…you just have to find it.
Except haggis.
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