Comments on: Let’s Dish: The Influence Of What Children Eat

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:47:14 +0000

I am blessed with a mother who is an amazing cook, and she made me appreciate fresh food. I never had a frozen meal in my life growing up, but we had a mixture of healthy and unhealthy snacks, and that carried on until adulthood. I make most meals from scratch and I make veggies and snack on fruit, but I also love my junk food. As the “baker” in the family, I bake on average once a week. I have always had a weight problem, but that’s for a different topic. ;)

What’s interesting is that husband came from a completely different household–his mom rarely cooked. She makes a killer meat sauce for pasta, but other than that…microwave everything to death and it was all processed food. When I met him he was very complacent about food, and slowly over the years he’s come to appreciate my meals more and more. We’re still working on it…he can be picky at times so it’s a matter of finding “husband-proof” meals that he never tires of.

Which is one of the many reasons why I frequent this website! :)

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 10 May 2009 23:32:46 +0000

Great post Amy. I eat real food because my parents did, for sure. Even though there wasn’t a lot of great cooking going on, they did feed me and my sister decent meat, potato, vegetable dinners. And when we went out to eat it was at a casual dining restaurant, or mom and pop place, but never fast food. I don’t remember ever eating fast food until I was 18. No takeout pizza either, but that’s because they were New Yorkers and Pizza Hut just wouldn’t do in our house. They did buy a lot of soda and chips, but I was never interested in them. Bless my taste buds.

Steve though? I have entirely reversed his upbringing. That’s why I involve his opinion so much on my blog. The circumstances of his childhood meant cheap, processed junk. Now he eats very, very little of that.

Good for you raising your kids the way you are. I have a couple of other friends who do that and their kids, like yours, are developing great palates. It’s a wonderful gift you’re giving them.

And Happy Mother’s Day!

By: Chopper

Chopper — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:09:09 +0000

What I really enjoy is exposing kids (in my case, my nephews) to foods they DON’T get at home. From an early age (but old enough that they were able to behave themselves in public) I’ve turned my nephews into hardcore sushi fans, thai food junkies, and gourmet dining aficionados. It’s something their parents don’t enjoy and would have probably never exposed them to. I feel I have done my job as an uncle to give them a little culture and excitement over what they eat. I didn’t learn those lessons until I was an adult, because we ate very traditional foods in my household growing up (meat and potatoes, occasionally pizza or chow mein…but that’s as exotic as it got). What I really disagree with is parents who force their kids to eat what they don’t like (“you can’t leave the table until you finish that”). I had that done to me as a child and it took years for me to get over my dislike of certain foods because of that tactic. Not all vegetables taste good, even if their good for you. My dislikes were canned spinach and canned asparagus…I wouldn’t touch either veggie for many years until I tried fresh and realized they weren’t that bad after all.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:58:48 +0000

I am probably in between in terms of what I ate as a child. I clearly remember my mother’s attempts to give us healthy cereals and us dumping a ton of sugar on top. And I will never make Hamburger (or any other sort of ) Helper. And I will never buy Little Debbie Snack cakes as delicious as they were back then. My Mom did cook as much as she had the time and energy for and we sometimes protested that a Banquet potpie would be better. How ungrateful.

My grandmother had a garden though and I can remember bringing home grocery bags of fresh summer vegetables and eating them fresh. Cucumbers peeled, without salt; watermelon; tomatoes like they were apples; bell peppers.

My own kids are what I would consider good eaters, though there does seem to be a magical age (5 years old) when all things look “weird” and suddenly nothing is good with “sauce.” We keep trying; unwilling to give up and just serve fries and chicken nuggets for every meal. Someday she will appreciate that.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:51:34 +0000

Karen’s comment about Spaghetti O’s reminded me that whenever I was sick as a child, my mom always gave me Chef Boy Ardee to eat. To this day, when I get sick, THAT is what I crave. Also, when I was growing up, McDonalds was a TREAT that we got about once a month (even the dog got a “regular” hamburger). And, to comment on Sara’s “organic” question; no, I don’t think organic existed in the 70′s. I think organic was when we actually picked the pears off the trees at my elementary school. :o)