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The Fit Foodie
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50 DELISH
K.I.S.S. Recipes
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K.I.S.S. ­ Keep it super simple with smart swaps
FOODFIGHTER
red, orange, green, purple and blue, we introduce white to brown food and somehow forgot all the gorgeous colors we once had. Hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fried this or that. By this point, kids and parents almost get conditioned to accept that as the norm. Why do we slip down the rainbow to the point of no palate return?
Neophobia, or fear aroused by new foods, is a common syndrome. All omnivorous animals are scared to try the unknown. Between the ages of 2 and 10 years old are the worst – and between 4 and 7 years, children usually only agree to taste something unknown to them if they are strongly encouraged, not threatened. e good news is neophobia can be overcome with education and consistency. If they don’t miss a beet, they would never know that veggies are vili ed by adults whose parents let go of the wheel. Now, if you let o the gas and don’t support their veggie- lled existence, the reintroduction of those bitter and umami avors
will become much harder later. If you were the kid who never
28 Winter 2016 - 2017
wanted to try anything new, and your parents were ok with that, your palate, or maybe your spouse’s, is reminiscent of a 4 year-olds. You know who you are. You gravitate to peanut butter and jelly on white bread, gummy worms and cocoa pu s. Perhaps some reconditioning is in order for the whole family?
is idea of kids not having the tastebuds for certain foods isn’t
a matter of where they were raised, it’s how they were fed. It only takes looking around the world to see how what other kids eat for
a traditional breakfast, for example. In Japan, it’s sea vegetables, rice and raw sh. In China, it’s congee, a rice porridge that can
be seasoned with mushrooms and pork. In Egypt, it’s stewed brown fava beans with hummus, tahini and pita bread with pickled turnips. In Sweden, they’ll have slabs of whole grain cracker bread with slices of cheese, pate and pickles. In Spain, it’s bread rubbed with garlic and tomato. In India, it might be a tofu scramble or
dal with chapattis. In Australia, you can get your Vegemite on toast. In Mongolia, the day wouldn’t start on the right foot without boiled mutton. In Uganda, it’s stewed bananas and cow organs.
In the Bahamas, a plate of spicy prawns and grits is the breakfast
of champions. In Mexico, you’re getting chilaquiles or machaca. And in Peru, ceviche made with raw, marinated seafood is a typical starter for the day. In the U.S., you can get your eggs and bacon, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, Danish, mu ns, wa es, grits, beignets, corned beef hash and all of the above.
e same child who grew up eating sea vegetables and raw
sh in Japan can acclimate to the sugary U.S. diet in a heartbeat but to go the opposite way takes a little more persuasion and time. ere’s a strong physiological reason for getting your brain involved. You don’t have to be a doctor to gure out why we tend to crave sweet and salty things the most. Just look at where those taste buds sit on the tongue! ey’re hanging out right up front, waiting to dip their sassy little buds into syrup, wa es and pancakes with a bacon and corned beef hash chaser. Sweet and salty come naturally. By developing the bitter and umami taste buds that love foods like spinach and the greens family, celery, seaweed, citrus, sh, mushrooms and tomatoes, you unlock a whole world of health and wellness and that’s the muscle we’re trying to pump up.
e best way to get them on board is to get them working. I love teaching kids cooking classes. When I ask for volunteers to help me at the ‘chef ’s table,’ everyone’s hands go up. ey have such a desire to help, be creative and be a part of the process. ey have no qualms adding in handfuls of spinach into a sauce or throwing broccoli into
a sauté. Studies con rm that one of the most important ways of getting children to make sound food choices is involving them in the process. A child will be much more apt to try something if they’ve
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