I was always a finicky eater. As a kid I probably disliked more foods than I liked. I would eat spaghetti with butter and grated cheese rather than sauce. I wouldn’t eat anything that contained onions, peppers, mushrooms, or beans. I’ve gotten better over time both through some forceful nudging by my parents and my own expanded spirit of food exploration. And at this point there are very few things I won’t eat (though I’m still not a huge fan of peppers or onions – mostly a texture thing, though – I don’t mind the flavors).
But now I have kids of my own, and the last thing I want to do is to pass my own food aversions on to them. So I’ve made a point of exposing them gradually to a variety of foods in these formative years and trying not let my own food preferences influence their own. I’m currently working on gradually breaking down Cricket’s spice aversion (she is learning that spices aren’t always spicy, and can make foods tastier), and exposing them to some vegetable options my own parent never pushed on us (e.g., brussel sprouts). I also recently fooled her (and myself) into eating mushrooms by finely chopping some and replacing a 3rd of the meat in a lasagna with them (I also added a good amount of spinach – it was quite good and I didn’t tell her until after she was finishing a second helping).
Grasshopper is a bit of a different nut t o crack, though. He will actually eat a number of veggies without a problem. And whereas Cricket I need to force to drink milk every day, Grasshopper will chug it day and night. But he is not a big fan of meat. This is not truly a bad thing – there is nothing wrong with a diet of mostly produce as long as the proteins get in there somewhere. He is only 3, so I figure it is a phase he will eventually (at least partially) outgrow. I can now add another non-meat protein source to the list of things he likes, though. My mom came to visit for the weekend, and due to her own digestive health she came with groceries. Upon departure, we were left with two cartons of Silk soy milk (one chocolate, one vanilla). I’m not really a fan and neither is my wife, but I’d hate to just toss it. So as an experiment, I gave some to Grasshopper the next time he asked for ‘choca-milk’ – he guzzled it down as if it were no different. And both last night and this morning, he asked for a cup of ‘soil milk’.
I’m sure my kids will develop their own tastes and food aversions – we all have them (I know I still do). I’ll continue to fight the important food fights (e.g., wanting a treat every time the ice cream man drives down the street). But luckily so far neither of them are too finicky (at least not as finicky as I was).