What children shouldn't like to eat

[Knicke]

Not having kids, I have to report on my own childhood favorites.

Duck

Pickled herring

Raw oysters

Shrimp w/ legs (to be peeled off)

Mushrooms of any kind (as long as they weren't canned)

Really disliked liver then, and I still don't care for it. I have to say that my parents really helped develop my palate by making me try one bite of everything set before me, and not letting me make myself a peanut butter sandwich every time dinner was not to my taste.

[Mooshmouse]

My little gastronaut in training will be 3 1/2 in January, and we've been fairly fortunate thus far with his eating habits. He loves sushi and will eat tobiko (flying fish roe) by the spoonful. All sorts of cheese: brie, smoked gouda, camembert, you name it. Dill pickles. Tofu. Crab meat, smoked oysters, smoked salmon jerky and "Indian Candy" (sweet smoked salmon sticks). Prosciutto and garlicky italian salami. Lemons (what is it with kids and lemons?). Pate. Hummus and baba ghanoush. Salad. Steak, barbecued ribs, chicken satay. But the kicker has to be small dried anchovies... pops 'em in his mouth one after the other like potato chips.

However, after all that, he hates peanut butter. Go figure.

Edited December 17, 2004 by Mooshmouse (log)

[Transparent]

Well, I've always loved mushrooms, brocolli, cauliflower, carrots, gai lan. Gotta love them veggies.

[jschyun]

There's this really religious family I know with two sons. The second son was I think about four years old when i took the mom and her kids out to dim sum one time. Really good place, Koi Palace near SF. Anyways, I ordered all the most innocent looking stuff for them and then the second son starts yelling after one of the cart ladies. Apparently she had just shown her chicken feet wares to another customer and he wanted it. His mother tried to dissuade him from getting it "you won't like it honey, that's nasty" but he was not to be dissuaded. Little boy got his black bean chicken feet and he and I split the order. He sucked on the bones and spit them out perfectly on his first try.

This is the same kid who will yell out "I'm drinking the blood of Christ!" when he's drinking grape juice. Also, he informed me that he couldn't have the body of Christ because the biscuits were in the oven. Like I said, very religious people here. He also violently rips the heads off shrimp and lines up the tails in a neat row on his plate.

[crinoidgirl]

This is the same kid who will yell out "I'm drinking the blood of Christ!" when he's drinking grape juice.  Also, he informed me that he couldn't have the body of Christ because the biscuits were in the oven.  Like I said, very religious people here.  He also violently rips the heads off shrimp and lines up the tails in a neat row on his plate.

←

Ah, another serial killer in the making.

Edited December 18, 2004 by crinoidgirl (log)

[purplewiz]

When I was a kid, it was spinach. I LOVED cooked spinach. You couldn't get the prewashed bags that you can now, and my mother hated the frozen and canned stuff, so we didn't have it too often. But oh, I loved it, especially "a la goldenrod" - separate the whites and yolks of hard cooked eggs, sieve them separately, then dress the mound of cooked spinach with first a pile of the white, then on top of that a pile of the yolk.

I still like it a whole lot, but not with the devotion I had as a kid.

My niece's big treat is canned asparagus. Apparently she'll go through as much as there is.

Marcia.

[hazardnc]

Hey - I loved spinach too! The canned variety (sadly) with plenty of vinegar. I also loved liver, sauerkraut, baby peas and olives. I hated spaghetti and mashed potatos! I still hate spaghetti (with meat sauce) but will tolerate the spuds. My dad introduced me to frogs legs and cabrito on hunting trips to Brownsville, TX and I loved those too. My favorite thing was snails!

My kids have some unusual likes...they both love pate (I have to watch my son with this as he will gorge himself on the stuff), all kinds of olives, fish (especially the tuna and salmon), oysters, pesto and strong cheeses - pecorino Toscano, goat cheese, blue. They love Indian, Thai and Lebanese food.

And what is it with sucking on lemons? Both my kids did this when little, but they outgrew it. I discouraged it b/c I was taught that too much lemon juice will eat away the enamel on your teeth - maybe an old wive's tale, ut that's what I knew back then.

Edited December 18, 2004 by hazardnc (log)

[JerzyMade]

My 7-year old loves feta cheese and hates mushrooms, my 11-year old loves olives and mushrooms, but hates feta. Actually, the younger one hates the word "mushroom" and the sight of them; she likes them when she doesn't know what she's eating. Of course, the older one loves tricking the younger one and then bragging about it.

Fortunately, I can always feed them a grilled cheese sandwich, or I'd go nuts.

[suzilightning]

no kids but i loved blue cheese as a toddler. my afternoon snack would be two ritz crackers smeared with it. also grew up eating game in all forms. i remember for my 8th birthday i wanted to go to this french restaurant in east hampton and have frogs legs for dinner and that was my birthday present from my grandfather. ohhhhh.... and lima beans, i adore lima beans.

then there was my sister who would only eat campbells' chicken noodle soup or peach jam sandwiches and would not touch mashed potatoes.

[tejon]

One of my five year old's favorite foods is broccoli. He has turned down cookies and cake for the prized vegetable in the past. He also adores hummus and falafel and fish of any kind. Oh, and capers. He would happily down a large bottle of capers if I let him. Had the lemon thing going on when he was younger as well, and would beg for slices of raw onion and garlic to chew on.

[lannie]

My little 6 year-old cousin is a finicky eater - she likes crunchy stuff (fried chicken, fries, and fried-until-they're-petrified shallots) and Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli).

When she was 5, I let her help me make some Lemon Sorbetto in the hand-crank ice cream maker, and was very proud when her parents told me that, while on vacation in Europe, when the waiter asked her if she wanted dessert, she asked him, "Do you have any Lemon Sorbetto?".

My 8 year-old nephew has a penchant for Tako (octopus).

Edited December 18, 2004 by lannie (log)

[chromedome]

My son was a bear for the broccoli. When he was a toddler, we had to make sure he was belted into his stroller before we went into the supermarket, otherwise he'd be lunging out of it when we got to the produce aisle. He also loved sauerkraut, and any kind of pickle.

My daughter's thing, as a tot, was raw garlic. I was chopping some one day, and she was clutching at my leg demanding to try it, so I thought "Okay, I'll fix you..." and gave her some. She devoured it and demanded more. It was rather amusing, watching people haul our little blue-eyed poppet onto their lap and then getting the blast of "gasoline breath" as she nattered away happily at them.

My nephew, as a wee one, was big on liver. Loved it...would scatter pieces all around the floor for later (oy).

My mom tells me that I would devour any pickled onion that had the misfortune to cross my path, from infancy to about four years old.

[Milagai]

my kids love:

asparagus, beets, broccoli, bok choy, carrots, cabbage and cauliflower, most fruit,

green beans and green peas, okra, tofu (which my 3 YO calls sofa),

spinach, and most kinds of dal.

also felafel, most chinese food,

i don't get why kids "aren't supposed" to like these foods:

someone please explain?

maybe parents are bad cooks?

when i was a kid i didn't like eggplant (the appearance)

but its now one of my favorites...

milagai

[NulloModo]

When I was a tot my parents tell me I had an insatiable hunger for cottage cheese and collard greens. I can't much stand cottage cheese anymore, but I still love collard greens, and my parents know that it is theone item that absolutely must adorn the table anytime they invite me over for a holiday meal.

[hjshorter]

My kids like all sorts of things that American kids aren't "supposed" to like.

Emma (age 5) likes raw oysters, any kind of grilled fish, broccoli, cauliflower, olives (picholine are her favorites), goat cheese, rare steak, salads, Thai and sushi. She will try almost anything. Ian's tastes are a little less adventurous (he's 2 1/2), but he loves vegetables, steak, seafood, Indian and Thai food. The only veggie that neither will touch is parsnips, and stinky cheese is a no-no. They are fiends for fresh fruit - clementines are in season right now and they chow on 2-3 per day.

We went out to lunch today at our favorite Cantonese restaurant. Emma devoured turnip cake and gai lan. Ian stuffed his face with curry rice noodles with shrimp.

Their dislikes are weird. They don't care for anything deep-fried, except for frites and the occasional fish stick. They won't eat mac and cheese from a box. Emma doesn't like hot dogs or potato chips. Ian doesn't like peanut butter. It makes the average restaurant "kid's menu" challenging.

As babies they both preferred jarred baby food to homemade, because of the smoother texture, but once they started on table food they got the same meals with the spiciness toned down.

[Pan]

When I was a young boy, I wouldn't eat chicken meat unless as part of a soup or something (my mother hid pieces in soup, but I didn't care about the subterfuge because it tasted good with all the other ingredients). I ate the skin and loved all the innards. A little later, when I started enjoying chicken meat (the wings and the leg quarter, mostly, but also the neck, back, and tail), I still loved chicken liver and kidney and liked the heart and stomach, while the lungs when available were OK, and I liked to pick out the blood vessels and eat them separately. Later, when I was in Malaysia, I enjoyed eating the chicken heads. And I've enjoyed chicken feet with black bean sauce since the first time I tried that. I don't really see how any of this is odd, though, other than my not liking chicken meat at one point. I still like innards a lot and wish that it were easier to get chicken heads in New York.

[Chloe]

Both my children adore olives and olive oil on everything. Grilled beef has to be very rare otherwise they turn up their noses. They adore goose barnacles and octopus, and whole sardines - grilled or fried. Most types of cheese. They love Portuguese bloody, soupy rice dishes - sarrabulho, arroz de frango - and they might call them chocolate rice, but they know very well what's in the dish.

My 7-year old girl's favourite foods are mussels and salmon (fresh or smoked). She also loves parmesan cheese, artichokes, snails (French style and Iberian style), fish and shellfish in general. In the summer down south in the Alentejo she was quite crazy over grilled Iberian black pork - segredos and plumas

4-year old boy loves mushrooms, broccoli, artichokes, not so much of a shellfish or snail fiend as his sister, but he's improving! Crunchy chicken skin.

They don't like pizzas, hamburgers, hotdogs, peanut butter ...

I'm sure I've missed some things out!

Salt cod for lunch today.

Chloe

North Portugal

[petite tête de chou]

Hey - I loved spinach too!  The canned variety (sadly) with plenty of vinegar.  I also loved liver, sauerkraut, baby peas and olives.  I hated spaghetti and mashed potatos!  I still hate spaghetti (with meat sauce) but will tolerate the spuds.  My dad introduced me to frogs legs and cabrito on hunting trips to Brownsville, TX and I loved those too.  My favorite thing was snails!

My kids have some unusual likes...they both love pate (I have to watch my son with this as he will gorge himself on the stuff), all kinds of olives, fish (especially the tuna and salmon), oysters, pesto and strong cheeses - pecorino Toscano,  goat cheese, blue.  They love Indian, Thai and Lebanese food.

And what is it with sucking on lemons?  Both my kids did this when little, but they outgrew it.  I discouraged it b/c I was taught that too much lemon juice will eat away the enamel on your teeth - maybe an old wive's tale, ut that's what I knew back then.

←

You were taught right! As a kid I would often eat 2 or even 3 lemons in one sitting. I had to have my teeth bonded when I was just 11! And the sores in the corners of my mouth HURT. Just for a change of pace I'd eat a lime or two but lemons were number one with me.

[stephenc]

Whenever I visit my friend Dan, we always experiment with new foods to see what his 2 year old daughter will and will not eat.

It's fun to feed her pieces of jalapeno, or olives, or fermented tofu, to see whether she gladly eats them.