Our baby is properly into his food now. At nearly seven months old he's getting pretty good with his hands, well good enough to pick everything up and put it in his mouth anyway. He's not coming off milk anytime soon though, although when I take back over in September with childcare he obviously won't be having so much breast milk and more formula, I just don't have the right equipment!
 |
| A happy baby with hummus on his face |
He already loves certain types of food and my wife is doing a great job of getting him to eat different things. Last night he had some of our runner beans to hold and chew and he loves broad beans without the skins, slices of potatoes, carrots or parsnips or a real favourite of his is a mini sandwich with hummus on it. Fruit is high on the list as well, strawberries, banana, pear anything sweet really.
It does make us think though, I was in my twenties before I even tried hummus and our children now grow up with it as a real staple in our house, we eat some at least once a week.
What food did you come to late in life but is now on your shopping list every week? Did the diet your children ate differ from your own as a child much?
My children can't believe I didn't try pesto until I was 19! My youngest doesn't believe life is possible without it, I don't think. It's her default for pasta, smearing on a pizza, on jacket potatoes, even in a cheese sandwich.
ReplyDeleteGarlic!
Olives and mozzarella were only ever on the top of a Bejam frozen pizza (the only type I'd had before Deep Pan and Pizza Hut came to Banbury when I was about 14, I suppose.)
And I discovered humus after I'd left home and it's a staple in our house as well.
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar would be on the list too. Olive oil came in a little bottle from the chemist for earache and dry nails :)
I was a child of the seventies, with a mother who was relieved to discover such delights as Angel Delight, tinned spaghetti and Primula cheese that needed little preparation. Her cooking was good but she didn't enjoy it much and preferred cooking basic English food along the stews and meat-and-veg lines. She still does, although she does cook pasta more often that the occasional macaroni cheese we got as children (add pasta to the list!)
Looking at our menu board this week we have Greek (Briam- perfect for using up garden veg- courgette, potatoes, tomatoes), Lebanese (Megadarra- lentils, rice and lots of fried onions. It's much tastier than it sounds) Italian (homemade pizza, probably with courgette topping- it's that time of year!) and SE Asian (San Choy Bau with noodles) as well as roast beef, and an unlikely-sounding but delicious multi-cultural dish I discovered at a London children's nursery as a student that involves adding fried onion, sweetcorn, tinned tuna and garam masala to cooked pasta.
Only the roast would have been on the menu when I was a child.
Sorry, long post but I find it fascinating how our eating and cooking has changed in a relatively short time.
I think it's more important that your children have an open mind to try different food, I never mind if after trying anything they say they don't like it. We got ours eating fruit and veg as first food. Growing up in rural Somerset in 60s almost everything we ate was British. So I love all the different taste we now eat.
ReplyDeleteGarlic I was in my 20s before I tried it along with other herbs and spices, I think its because my mum was a basic cook and my dad was a meat and two veg man so meals were very plain we had the same meals on set days nothing adventurous
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet, happy face--just adorable!
ReplyDeleteKale was unknown in our house growing up, and I eat that all the time now.
My son grew up loaded with fruits and vegetables. He's not raising his son like that, however, and that makes me incredibly sad.........
We never ate rice as my dad didn't like it. I cook it several times a week now. Mum still won't cook it as she thinks it's too difficult! I didn't try curry until my late teens, again my dad didn't like it so mum never cooked it.
ReplyDeleteYour son is adorable with beautiful eyes. I was a lucky child being introduced to lots of flavours early in life. My mother and father met in India during the war. Dad brought her back to the UK in 1948. My Sunday Lunch was curry and rice. Dad made his own curry powder back then using all kinds of exotic ingredients. Our diet often consisted of ladies fingers, mango and papaya.
ReplyDeletei was the pickiest eater ever when i was young. i didn't try anything until i was in my 20's. i raised my kids eating everything!
ReplyDeleteMayonnaise! I had never heard of it until my twenties. We always had salad cream and mayonnaise sounded so "foreign" My children and grandchildren have Mayo with everything that doesn't have gravy and I still like salad cream, though I make mayo now and always use it in coleslaw - something else I hadn't heard of until my twenties! Then there is curry ! My first experience of this exotic dish was in the late 1960s by Vesta!
ReplyDeleteGill
I was born in England in 1951 and my family emigrated to Canada in 1966. In England there were so many foods that I had never heard of util I came to Canada. I often wonder what on earth did we eat over there. I had never heard of chili, chicken a la king, coleslaw, jellied salads, never had a hot dog, hamburger, corn, spaghetti, or pasta of any description, pizza, had never eaten any fish other than fish fingers and fish and chips. I read a lot of British blogs and people seem to make and eat a huge amount of chutney. I don't know anyone that makes or eats it here. We did have Branston pickle in England, does that count? Also Indian food. I've never been to an Indian restaurant but there are a few of them here. I worked with an East Indian lady who brought butter chicken to a potluck and it was delicious so I do make that now. Another British thing I've noticed is that if it is edible make it into a pie!!lol. Just kidding, but savoury pies are not very common here either. I could go on but I think you get the jist.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest grandson (who is 2) loves french beans. I think he could live on them. His parents are veggies.
ReplyDelete