[twitter]My kids are picky eaters. Very picky. Just look at this video of Zacharie reacting to a lasagna noodle with sauce *gasp* touching his tongue.
When something in on his plate that he doesn’t like, he distinctly informs us “I didnt order this.”
Noodles must be plain. Period.
So my wife and I dont get the luxury of being sneaky chefs and stuffing the sauce with cauliflower, zucchini and vegetables to help him get his fill. But I wonder, is this the right thing to be doing anyway?
We’ve been given the books by Missy Chase Lapine and Jessica Seinfeld, but they sit unopened on the shelf. I read the blog recipes, like this one this morning giving tips to get bananas into ice cream, but I wonder – are we doing our kids any favours by being “sneaky chefs”?
By sneaking the good in with the bad are we just encouraging the craving for the bad instead of nurturing an appreciation for the good?
You may know how to get cauliflower into macaroni and cheese, beets into chocolate cake and zucchini into spaghetti sauce – but that’s not how it’s done in the real world.
For now, we’re still trying the negotiations to get our son to broaden his palate, and it works – sometimes.
Are *you* a sneaky chef? What are your reasons?
I’m a chef, and I have no intention of being a sneaky one with my little girl.
My hope is that she’ll enjoy a healthy variety of foods, including vegetables, as long as they’re cooked well. That’s the plan, anyway.