The Spawn, now a 23 year old man-like thing, is well on his way towards being a foodie. I'm not saying that he loves the work involved in, say, grating real parmigiao-reggiano when he makes an al fredo sauce, but he does it and knows WHY he is doing it.
Obviously, just having parents who are foodies helped make him this way. But I think that our approach to his eating when he was young helped, too.
Like many young American children, he had times of being a picky eater. ("Picky Eaters" are kind of the definition of "First World Problems", wouldn't you say?) We let him pick a few foods he didn't have to eat at all, one fruit (he always picked grapefruit) and two other foods (usually cooked dried beans and Brussels sprouts, sometimes spaghetti squash, or winter squash, or whatever). He got to change his selections every 6 months. But for all other foods, he had to eat a serving at any meal it was served at. A serving was defined as 'as many bites of it as you are years old". Also, when we ate out, he had a sample of whatever we adults ordered, to help expose him to new tastes/textures/foods.
Now, the spawn has always been a pretty easy child outside of his speech delay, fine motor skill issues, and sensory integration issues, and this level of respect plus explicit expectations worked for us. There were no meal time negotiations, no excessive whining, no tantrums over food.
For us, this worked. The Spawn is now into darn near all foods (even those dried beans, on occasion). He also does a good job as a food critic, and is experimental in the kitchen and when out to eat. He makes his own sushi. Yeah, he's still an American male and eats his share of fast food, too. I'm proud of him!
Frondly, Fern
AWESOME!!! That's a great way to raise a non-picky eater.
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