Extreme Eating

How is it that a child who refuses to eat a mushroom will calmly eat a fish eye in a Chinese restaurant (and like it!)? 

Why does this same child eagerly down a plate of goose barnacles while on vacation but refuse to eat a piece of red pepper?  Or a spoonful of couscous?  Or a bite of turkey?  Or asparagus?  What kind of cruel joke is this?

Comments

[Ann]

I read somewhere that taste buds regenerate every 2-3 weeks, faster with children. I still have hope that Ro, who loves gooseberries and smoked salmon, will find a taste for tomatoes. And before this summer.

[veron]

That's funny. Maybe the child does not like vegetables and plain old white meat like Turkey. Maybe the child likes adventurous food and has a sophisticated palate. I always loved turkey as a child but it took me almost 35 years to voluntarily order vegetables from a menu.

[Brandon]

It's the lack of logic in it all that drives me insane.

Veronica--you give me hope. The problem is that we can't eat goose barnacles and chorizo and crab (other favorites) every night, nor do any of these things fit easily into a lunch box.

Ann--my thoughts about tomatoes will be with you.

[Deborah Dowd]

Okay, here's the flaw in your thinking- you are trying to apply logic to children- fatal flaw. If you continue to insist on doing this you will lose your mind!

[Tripp Fenderson]

My 5 year old will literally fight you for the last Kalamata olive, prefers to eat chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano over Kraft Singles, loves to eat clams steamed in wine and garlic and eats more meat at Ipanema Grill than mom and dad combined - but she won't touch a tomato.

"Those are gross, daddy."

Without question, I've pushed her taste buds since she was an infant by asking her to try things (never, never, never forcing food) and it is starting to pay off.

She knows what she likes, why she likes it and is starting to develop a good sense of "food memory".

I can't tell you how proud I was when she told me recenty that she wanted to learn how to cook something. She had her first cooking class today at the Young Chef's Academy and loved it.