Picky, Picky
January 1st, 2010 by Elizabeth Phillips
My older son has made a pair of lists. One has several items, the other only two. Ah, you’re thinking, she’s writing this column in December. She must be looking at Christmas lists. Right?
Wrong. My eat-anything kid has caught the picky eater bug so badly I’ve had to ask him to write down the foods he likes and doesn’t like.
On the “no” list, “quesadillas, ham and cheese sandwich, cheese sandwich, ham sandwich, turkey sanwich, beats (any)” (his spelling). Yes to “lamb (any), lamb shank soup.”
Sandwiches are out, and meat is in — for now. I guess some shepherds in New Zealand will be glad to hear about my son’s preferences, but the boy cannot live on lamb alone. Add in the fact that toddler brother Solly is training for international vegetable spitting competition, and we have a family in crisis. Or maybe we’re just normal.
I threw my problem out to my Facebook community, asking “What’s your strategy for feeding the picky eater(s) in your family? Do you have a failsafe food?” Forty responses, some frivolous, some trenchant, told me I wasn’t alone. (One of the reasons I write about food is that almost everyone has strong feelings about it, especially when it comes to kids.) Some helpful themes and ideas emerged.
Flavor. Everyone agrees that food needs to taste good, and that cheese, butter, even anchovies (no kidding) can make vegetables delicious. However, Kristin in Los Angeles, who described her kids as hypersensitive “supertasters,” says her kids gag on foods with strong flavors. She relies on a mixture of spinach, feta, olive oil, and whole-grain pasta to meet her kids’ nutritional needs.
Texture. Lots of kids reject foods based on texture. Sometimes trying a different cooking method helps (see recipe below), but you might need to move on and try again later.
Mixing vs. Separation. This gets tricky. “I think a lot of the tactics for dealing with picky eaters aren’t actually about the food itself but about the experience of the meal,” says Rebecca in Memphis. Some kids don’t want foods to touch each other. “If they’re distracted by construction or by interesting plates with dividers, they aren’t thinking about the morsels going into their mouths.” At the other extreme is the taco-in-a-bag concept, which Joe in New York describes thus: “They choose what and how much of it goes in the bag, shake it up and dump it on their plates.”
Do-It-Yourself. Bottom line: the more kids are in on meal prep, the more likely they are to eat. Of course, it can be a real pain to churn out a weeknight supper with juvenile sous-chefs. Many parents compromise by putting a spread of elements on the table and encouraging kids to choose ingredients.
Laurie from Boston writes: “My kids will eat anything they have to construct: lettuce wraps, rice bowls. Hey, they’ll eat Brussels sprouts if I put baked potatoes on a plate and announce that we’re using veggies as toppings.” Not all of us are so lucky. Misa in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, suggests make-your-own burrito night. “The ingredients are separate, they can choose what they like, AND they’re involved in making it.” (For another example, see my September column on Memphis chefs.)
Comfort vs. Novelty. As Gus’s lists show, kids are comforted by foods they know. But they also show they know a rut when they’re stuck in one. Eve suggests mixing it up: “Push a new cheese every so often.” Safe category, new experience. However, some kids eat to shock, even munching on pet kibble, much to their parents’ dismay. If you can harness that energy, though, your kid might end up like my Syracusan friend Francis’s son, a gonzo explorer of oysters, liverwurst, and smoked salmon.
Though there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, just remember — to paraphrase my friend Joe — no kid will starve herself.
Nigella Lawson’s Loaded Potato Skins
Adapted from Nigella Christmas: Food, Family, Friends, Festivities (Hyperion) This deluxe twice-baked potato won Gus over, no more potato non grata.
Makes 8 stuffed potato skins
Ingredients
• 4 baking potatoes
• 2 oz. sharp cheddar, grated
• 3 T sour cream
• 2 scallions, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon table salt or to taste
• good grinding of black pepper
• a few dashes worcestershire sauce
• 2 slices bacon
1. A day or at least several hours before you load them, bake the potatoes at 400°, pricking them first, for about 1½ hours, or until the skins are crisp and they give when you squeeze them. When cool enough to touch, cut in half lengthways and scoop the insides into a bowl. Put the potato skins on a baking sheet.
2. Add ¾ of the cheese to the cooled potato along with the sour cream, using a potato masher if necessary. Add the scallions, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.
3. Spoon the potato filling into the potato skins, and lay each half on a baking tray so they fit snugly together. Sprinkle a bit of the remaining cheese over each potato skin.
4. Wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a week.
5. Cook at 400° for 20-30 minutes until golden (if frozen, bake 35-40 minutes, covered with foil for the first 15).
6. Fry the bacon until crisp, then crumble and sprinkle over each potato skin.