I spent time as a chef for a childcare centre. Now this could have been a "cook's" job but I wasn't into serving regular food (chicken nuggets and the like). I wanted kids to learn and experience new (kid friendly) flavors. The centre had a policy of providing the best for the kids - both in care and food - and happily let me go on my way.We ate from Morrocco and Vietnam and India and Thailand and Greece and South Africa and Argentina and wherever else i could think of. I fed them fresh, homemade pasta and real homemade mayonnaise. Custard was real Italian custard that didn't involve a box or a packet.
We had apples and oranges as well as mangoes and dragonfruit and lychees and jackfruit.
I had a few hundred cds so they could listen to the music from the countries they were eating the food from. I made kits so they could learn the flags, animals, national dress and whatever else I could find.
We started a herb and vegetable garden so they could eat what they grew (a great way of getting kids to try new things) and they learned about life and death and all the bits in between.
They learned to eat with chopsticks.
Commercial birthday cakes with fluffy sponge and way too much icing became second choice to my pear cake or my apple cake or my carrot cake.
The babies/little toddlers only ate food I had prepared and pureed or mashed myself.
What a way to be :-)
Heads or Tails - tell me yours.
4 comments:
Ooh, I'm afraid I might've gone hungry in your care as a child. As picky of an eater as I am now (and I've come a long way since childhood), I was VERY picky back then, and not receptive to trying new or foreign things.
But it's good that you did those things, as you probably helped prevent some future-picky-eaters.
I'm with you except for the axing of the spongecake...lol my gran makes them 'to die for'
My dad made josef his own little garden and herbs were brilliant as they grow fast..he also grew a tonne of radish that we all pretended we liked....
Great job and great post my love
If I were to be so lucky as a child to have my world opened up so. What a wonderful story and such an opportunity for both you and the kids.
It would have been okay pita - I knew what each of the 50-odd kids didn't like so I made sure that they could pick those bits out. Or there was always a side of rice or salad or something so no child ever starved lol I also think the peer-pressure of everyone else going "yum" helped.
Sorry Abz, the sponge cake didn't meet our health requirements - although I could have lived with it if people didn't bring them in covered with frosting and really strong food colors. It did surprise me though how quickly the kids began to reject those cakes for our own.
Maybe I was projecting Indigo but that is what I thought too. And I used my experience with all o the other young people in my life - they all love the stuff I would have rejected (olives, a little chilli, spices and the like) - it's a different world today and food opportunities are endless :-)
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