Comments on: kids food and travel

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:57:48 +0000

First, funny to stumble across another WanderMom – that is one of the user names I have historically used..

My sons were 7 and 11 when we went to Iceland 2 summers ago. It was one place where the 7 yr old’s eating habits actually let us eat affordably. Food was wildly expensive, but “Margharita Pizza” was an offering at many spots, so the 2 kids routinely split that. Occasionally this was available at a local boutiquey restaurant that had nice “entree” specials for adults. Had we not been on a “Margharita Pizza” spree, our food bill would have been perhaps double what it was…

My now almost 13 year old now wants Prime Rib whenever we go out in the states…

By: Gregory Hubbs

Gregory Hubbs — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:05:10 +0000

To confirm the author’s observations, when my son was 9 months, we took him on our first trip to France and he discovered that even canned babyfood there has taste and is full of spices such as herbes de Provence.

He would not eat canned food when he returned to the States (no spices, no mushrooms, just corn syrup, etc.) So we had to cook a la Francaise or a l’Italiano for him – which means he ate what we ate…

I think that bland food makes for picky eaters and likely unhealthy children. After all, even the taste buds should be educated as soon as possible.

By: wandermom

wandermom — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:28:22 +0000

re: hot and spicy.
My neighbor tells me that her 13-yr-old son seems to have grown a brain. I can’t wait for this particular development in my (currently) 12-yr-old.
An affinity for hot and spicy foods seems to follow a similar developmental timeline. Today, my kids might just take a crumb of jalapeno chips. Friends who are just six or 12 months older than my big guy are fighting over the same extra-spicy chips with the adults in the room. (Actually, since they’re just teens and they’re boys, they’re all taller than their moms and eat more than we could eat in a week – and that’s just the chips).
Seriously, so far, I keep on offering and demanding no-thank-you-bites. Some day, I’m sure, the genetics will kick in. I’ll keep you posted