Believe me, I’ve had to bite my tongue more than once to stop myself saying these words.
Even though I may find a particular food delicious, my children often don’t share my enthusiasm.
This dish was delicious, despite the fact it lacked restaurant-quality presentation! To me, changing how I cook my veggies stops me getting bored. It’s what I love the most about veggies – but their versatility is exactly why many children find veggies particularly difficult.
How you cook veggies changes their taste and texture hugely. Food that changes its taste, texture, smell and shape so easily makes them unpredictable foods.
Unpredictable food is, for many children, downright scary.
Mr 4’s favourite foods are almost always foods that don’t change a great deal – yoghurt, cheese, raw veggies, plain pasta, fruit etc. Some children are naturally more cautious around new or different food (neophobia).
My dish of roasted cauliflower with parmesan was a very definite “no thank you” and I did have to remind Mr 4 not to be rude to food!
Even though your little ones may not be willing to taste and eat certain foods at a meal, serving foods we like and letting kids see us eat and enjoy them is incredibly powerful.
It is called EXPOSURE and it makes a difference.
You see, seeing, smelling and watching you eat different foods is the first step towards these foods becoming less unpredictable and more accepted. For some children, even the smell or sight of some foods is too overwhelming. We can take a step back and figure out how to present the food in a way that doesn’t cause distress. For example, we might place a strong-smelling dish further way on the table from the toddler with a heightened sense of smell!
Importantly, children need to feel safe to say No and turn down food they don’t wish to eat. Trying to push children into having a taste will often have the opposite effect. Reassure children that if they do want to have a go but feel a bit scared it is OK to spit the food out into a napkin or try a “Snake taste” (lick with the tip of your tongue).
Rather than talking about how you are sure that “they would like it if only they would try it”, focus simply on making meal times an enjoyable place to be for everybody.
By the way, if you haven’t tried it yet, roasted cauliflower with parmesan is just incredible – a mix of sweet and salty.
How are you going with veggie variety?
Eat happy!
Bonnie Searle
Accredited Practising Dietitian
