Food
Use your noodle
by Lois Daish
Are your children picky eaters? Dinnertime battles can be avoided if you make their meals as appealing as snacks.
Three grandchildren were sitting down for a late breakfast at a Wellington café. Liberty and Max had arrived on a late flight the night before and Zebedee had insisted on being at the airport to meet them. None of them had been in bed long enough and all were famished. Fortunately, Zeb’s father, one of the café owners, knew exactly what to do. Three small hot chocolates were soon on the table. A few sips later and the threat of squabbles subsided. Then came plates of scrambled eggs, boiled eggs and pancakes, as well as piles of crisp bacon. Over the next few days, other meals that were enjoyed by the children, and a few of their parents and grandparents, included homemade thin pizza topped with fresh tomato and mozzarella, charcoal-grilled frankfurters, fresh corn cut from the cob and served with roast chicken and potatoes, chocolate almond cake, afghans, strawberry ice-cream, and a nectarine custard tart. The mmmm sounds were music to my ears.
There is so much grizzling going on about picky eaters, it’s easy to forget that all children really do want to eat. It is just that they are particular about which foods they like and which they don’t and, just like adults, they know when they are hungry and when they have had enough. All that grown-ups have to do is sit up and take notice of these simple requirements.
Yet parents have always been bombarded by books of rules that make feeding children seem like a chore. Truby King’s Feeding and Care of Baby, published in the late 30s, was the standard local text for so many years that there must still be lots of New Zealanders whose childhood meals were influenced by the rigid ideas promoted in this book. Mastication was an important word for King and he insisted that first foods should be hard and tough so that jaws, gums and teeth would not atrophy and decay. Children fed mushy food would very likely end up capricious and enfeebled.
However, among the many stern instructions, there was some tenderness. King says that food for children should be served appetisingly and that children should not be continually urged to eat if they are disinclined to do so. If a child doesn’t like a particular food, the parent should have a taste to make sure it is palatable and also check whether the child’s mouth is sore. Even he sometimes gave the child the benefit of the doubt.
Benjamin Spock was an American child-care expert whose famous book Baby and Child Care was first published in 1946. Dr Spock seemed to understand how it felt to be a child and helped parents to do the same. In common with my parents, his book was my bible when my children were small. He makes a good point about children who don’t want to eat at mealtimes, but are always begging for food between meals. He says the problem isn’t that a parent has been too lenient about snacks. It is more likely to be because food has been forced on the child at mealtimes, so that as dinnertime approaches he is so tense that his stomach tightens and he can’t eat anything. As soon as the meal is over, he relaxes and feels hungry. The answer is to make meals as appealing as snacks.
A new local book is Cooking for Your Child – Healthy recipes from first foods to school lunches, by Nicola Galloway (Craig Potton, $34.99). This attractive book includes many recipes that children enjoy, such as mini pancakes made with cottage cheese, fried rice with toasted sesame seeds and five-minute noodles made with fresh vegetables. Most children love pasta and noodles, which provide parents with a wide range of quick, tasty meals.
In a new book from the famous English noodle restaurant, Wagamama – Ways with noodles (Kyle Cathie, $39.99), Hugh Arnold includes a chapter of noodle recipes for children. Using one of these, my grandson made the sauce while his mum cut up the vegetables, using blanched sweet corn and green beans and cucumber instead of those listed in the book.
NOODLE SALAD WITH TOASTED SESAME SEEDS
100g rice vermicelli
Dressing
2 tbsp mirin; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 2 tbsp oyster sauce; 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce; 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced; 3cm piece ginger root, peeled and grated
Vegetables
small handful snow peas; 1 tbsp fresh peas, blanched; 1/2 red capsicum, cut into short thin slices; 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced; 4 radishes, thinly sliced; handful baby spinach leaves; salt and pepper; 2 tsp sesame seeds, briefly toasted in a hot, dry pan
Cook the rice vermicelli according to the instructions on the packet, drain and refresh briefly under cold water. Roughly chop. Combine the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and toss through the warm vermicelli. Add the vegetables to the noodles and toss to ensure everything is well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds. Serves 2.
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