Did I ever tell you about the high expectations I had of my son? I was so looking forward discovering the culinary world with him. I dreamt of eating sushi in japan and sea urchin fresh from the sea. Picking berries from the bushes in our garden and hunting for blueberries in the woods. How naive was I ! I must have read to many food blogs. 🙂 I got confronted with parenting reality when we introduced him to his very first home made carrot mush – he hated it. He got this really red face he get when he is seriously upset and started screaming. It only got better when we introduced pasta some month later. Plain pasta I mean.
We tried everything to make him eat “normally”. In the end everybody was upset and dinner was just plain stress. At a certain point we decided , or he forced us with his behavior, that he’ll get his pasta with parmesan cheese in the evening and we eat our dinner when he’s in bed. I don’t feel particularly good with this solutions but dinner and cooking is less stressful and to me it’s more important that everybody is enjoying his food.
For a long time we lived with this arrangement quite happy. The list with what our boy eats got longer and sometimes shorter again. Basically he doesn’t like when different foods are mixed together ( except maybe risotto which he loves ). He his very fussy with textures. He likes vegetables but only raw. He was keen to try cooked asparagus and artichokes, and likes them, but would never try strawberries or any other fruit except apples . All red things all come from hell in his eyes except tomato sauce which has nothing to do with(red) tomatoes of course.
But when, on a trip to france, I found myself hunting through the city of Narbonne for a place we could find cooked pasta for our boy I became desperate again. This is the last thing I thought I would ever do.
We love to travel and he likes it too but where can we go with a boy who only eats pasta and raw vegetables? Next year we plan on going on a big holiday so there is some work to be done.
So some weeks ago we embarked on a culinary travel around the world. He gets to choose the country he wants to visit. Then we collect images from this county. We talk about the animals which life there and what is different and special about that country. Most important we check if they have a football team and how good they are. We even listen to some local music. A modern parent would be lost without the internet! Then we make a collage for our travel journey and then finally it’s shopping time.
When we sit down for our lunch he is really quite ready for the adventure. It’s not that he would like most of it but at least he tries and has fun. It’s fun for me to. First I have to find out what the national diet in the selected country is and then I have to come up with a children adapted menu. Next is Ivory cost – I’m pretty lost, what can I cook with with jams and plantains? Any tips?
Here where we’ve been so far:
Greece:
We started our trip in greece. Because a good friend of him was in greece by then.
On the menu were:
Tzaziki, Moussaka, rice and lot’s of black olives.
Conclusion: Tzaziki: well cucumbers are better without yoghurt he thinks, Moussaka, didn’t help that I used the left overs from his fathers tomato sauce ( which was spicy as hell ) but the rice and the olives can feed you too.
Vietnam:
In vietnam we had for lunch:
Fresh spring rolls, peanut butter dip, fresh asian herbs and rice.
Conclusion: Two bites of spring rolls, lots of thai basil and cilantro, he liked the dip but did not like to dip in… and he ate lot’s of rice (as long as it comes with soy sauce) . The making of the spring rolls was popular though.
Mexico:
On the menu ware burritos filled with saffron rice and peas. tomatoes, Onions, cilantro and avocado to roll in. Tortilla chips and guacamole.
Conclusion:
He did not like his burrito but said this is strange since he liked everything he rolled into it. I suggested to unpack it and eat all the ingredients separately. This worked fine. He tried a tiny bit of avocado but did not like it at all. Meanwhile he was happily dipping his tortilla chips into the guacamole 😉
Did I ever tell you about the high expectations I had of my son? I was so looking forward discovering the culinary world with him. I dreamt of eating sushi in japan and sea urchin fresh from the sea. Picking berries from the bushes in our garden and hunting for blueberries in the woods. How naive was I ! I must have read to many food blogs. 🙂 I got confronted with parenting reality when we introduced him to his very first home made carrot mush – he hated it. He got this really red face he get when he is seriously upset and started screaming. It only got better when we introduced pasta some month later. Plain pasta I mean.
We tried everything to make him eat “normally”. In the end everybody was upset and dinner was just plain stress. At a certain point we decided , or he forced us with his behavior, that he’ll get his pasta with parmesan cheese in the evening and we eat our dinner when he’s in bed. I don’t feel particularly good with this solutions but dinner and cooking is less stressful and to me it’s more important that everybody is enjoying his food.
For a long time we lived with this arrangement quite happy. The list with what our boy eats got longer and sometimes shorter again. Basically he doesn’t like when different foods are mixed together ( except maybe risotto which he loves ). He his very fussy with textures. He likes vegetables but only raw. He was keen to try cooked asparagus and artichokes, and likes them, but would never try strawberries or any other fruit except apples . All red things all come from hell in his eyes except tomato sauce which has nothing to do with(red) tomatoes of course.
But when, on a trip to france, I found myself hunting through the city of Narbonne for a place we could find cooked pasta for our boy I became desperate again. This is the last thing I thought I would ever do.
We love to travel and he likes it too but where can we go with a boy who only eats pasta and raw vegetables? Next year we plan on going on a big holiday so there is some work to be done.
So some weeks ago we embarked on a culinary travel around the world. He gets to choose the country he wants to visit. Then we collect images from this county. We talk about the animals which life there and what is different and special about that country. Most important we check if they have a football team and how good they are. We even listen to some local music. A modern parent would be lost without the internet! Then we make a collage for our travel journey and then finally it’s shopping time.
When we sit down for our lunch he is really quite ready for the adventure. It’s not that he would like most of it but at least he tries and has fun. It’s fun for me to. First I have to find out what the national diet in the selected country is and then I have to come up with a children adapted menu. Next is Ivory cost – I’m pretty lost, what can I cook with with jams and plantains? Any tips?
Here where we’ve been so far:
Greece:
We started our trip in greece. Because a good friend of him was in greece by then.
On the menu were:
Tzaziki, Moussaka, rice and lot’s of black olives.
Conclusion: Tzaziki: well cucumbers are better without yoghurt he thinks, Moussaka, didn’t help that I used the left overs from his fathers tomato sauce ( which was spicy as hell ) but the rice and the olives can feed you too.
Vietnam:
In vietnam we had for lunch:
Fresh spring rolls, peanut butter dip, fresh asian herbs and rice.
Conclusion: Two bites of spring rolls, lots of thai basil and cilantro, he liked the dip but did not like to dip in… and he ate lot’s of rice (as long as it comes with soy sauce) . The making of the spring rolls was popular though.
Mexico:
On the menu ware burritos filled with saffron rice and peas. tomatoes, Onions, cilantro and avocado to roll in. Tortilla chips and guacamole.
Conclusion:
He did not like his burrito but said this is strange since he liked everything he rolled into it. I suggested to unpack it and eat all the ingredients separately. This worked fine. He tried a tiny bit of avocado but did not like it at all. Meanwhile he was happily dipping his tortilla chips into the guacamole 😉
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