There is no reader question this week. Instead, Helena has a topic she’d like to discuss.
Having to make separate meals for picky children is usually a drag. But then there are the exceptions, when you’d rather not waste gourmet food on kids. Like at dinner parties, where the majority of your guests are adults. Is it rude to make mac ’n’ cheese for your young guests and deny them access to the shrimp cocktail? A Chowhound thread on this topic was so controversial, I felt I had to weigh in.
Many hosts feel it’s well within their rights to discourage their friends’ kids from eating what the grown-ups eat. “I don’t want to see [kids] waste (expensive) food that their doting mom or dad piles on their plates. Parents should give the child a taste first, before plating -- and be realistic in the amount plated,” writes Chowhound alkapal. I agree. Times are tough, and that wild-caught Alaskan salmon cost half your paycheck. Though it’s important to broaden kids’ culinary horizons, that’s the parents’ job, not yours.
However, you shouldn’t assume your younger guests won’t appreciate your hard-spent dollars. For some parents, bringing up a kid with a sophisticated palate is as important as rearing one with good manners. “You could not pay my kid to eat a chicken finger, and he loves caviar,” writes Chowhound Kater. Books on how to produce adventurous eaters, such as Hungry Monkey and My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus, are increasingly common. Kelly Q. Dietrich, director of the Kids Culinary Summer Camp of Vermont, says: “There are kids 10, 11, 12 who … show up with a firm grasp of the five mother sauces.” Many, says Dietrich, have a favorite celebrity chef. Some even post their own cooking shows on YouTube.
And with all the controversy surrounding factory farming, high-fructose corn syrup, and GMOs, your adult guests may view frozen chicken fingers or non-sustainably-raised hot dogs as unhealthy “junk food” that they don’t want their children to consume. And perhaps rightfully so!
The best approach is, prior to the gathering, to ask your guests who are parents what their children would prefer to eat for dinner, telling them what you’ll be serving the adults. Ask for a little direction if they expect you to prepare a separate meal. And don’t be put out if your guests think their children should eat the pricey stuff. You can always prevent the kids from guzzling caviar like peanut butter by saying, “This is very special, so we’re each just having a little.”
Cool:)
If I'm having a dinner party, and children are invited, although I will attempt to have a couple of things most children like, I would NEVER say any food I serve is 'off limits' to children. If I can't afford to buy enough of everything, I won't have a dinner party. Although my kids are now grown, we never went to any party that had a separate' kids' menu. Not once did I see this. Maybe things...+READ
If I'm having a dinner party, and children are invited, although I will attempt to have a couple of things most children like, I would NEVER say any food I serve is 'off limits' to children. If I can't afford to buy enough of everything, I won't have a dinner party. Although my kids are now grown, we never went to any party that had a separate' kids' menu. Not once did I see this. Maybe things have changed, but if so, it's a sad thing. My children, and the children of most of my friends, ate almost anything. Always. Even when my children had friends over for 'overnights', I never planned a purely 'kid's' menu. Yes, I DID make homemade pizza sometimes, but with a variety of toppings, not just pepperoni. I would have mushrooms, anchovies, fennel, etc. available, and lots of the kids added these things to their pizzas. As far as I can figure out, if kids watch their parents enthusiastically eat a large variety of foods, the kids will follow suit. If the parents turn up their noses at lots of foods, so will the kids. It's that easy. So, while I agree that children should be taught good manners, that goes both ways. It's NOT good manners to forbid anything you're serving to a child. (And, no, it's not good manners for a parent to pile a child's plate full of more food than any child could eat. But, I never saw that happen, personally.)-COLLAPSE
And furthermore...
Several of these responses sound really preachy - like it's up to me to help you expand your children's culinary world.
I have no problem whatsoever with the concept of teaching children to have adventuresome palates. I've done so with my children. And that includes such expensive "gourmet" items as caviar, salmon, oysters, etc. You name it, they've tried it. All three of my...+READ
And furthermore...
Several of these responses sound really preachy - like it's up to me to help you expand your children's culinary world.
I have no problem whatsoever with the concept of teaching children to have adventuresome palates. I've done so with my children. And that includes such expensive "gourmet" items as caviar, salmon, oysters, etc. You name it, they've tried it. All three of my (now) adult children are adventuresome and competent cooks. In fact, two of them have even gone into cooking as a career.
But I don't think I'm under any obligation to expand the palates of anyone else's children. If you want your kids to "learn to like" a wide variety of foods, I applaud you.
Just do it on your own dime.-COLLAPSE