Food. It's a pretty important part of our lives. Our family had some pretty strong opinions about food when we came to Nicaragua. Here's a rundown on our food idiosyncrasies.
Joe. He will eat pretty much anything. He turns his nose up at something not because of how it tastes but because of how unhealthy it is or how he feels after he eats it. He's pretty easy to please however a compliment on a meal doesn't mean much coming from him.
Joey. This kid has always had peculiar tastes. He has a love for white bread and sugar unrivaled by other 12 year old boys, however some of his favorite foods are balsamic vinegar, pico de gallo, a nice green salad, Brussels sprouts, bacon, seafood of all kinds and meat. For much of his early childhood he refused to eat tomatoes or tomato based foods (pizza, spaghetti, etc.) or melted cheese (mac n cheese, grilled cheese, etc.). He has been a tough kid to feed a regular kid menu as he never really liked most of those typical "kid friendly" foods. He'd rather go to a steakhouse (wonder where he gets that...read on).
Bridget. She is pretty adventurous in that she will try most things but unfortunately that doesn't translate to her liking most things. It does make her a relatively good dinner guest though, and for that I am thankful (especially after Joey). She does not like seafood at all (she gets that from me), but she will still try it (she does not get that from me. I don't care how good that salmon is, it still tastes like salmon, which I don't like, so don't waste it on me). She doesn't hate much but she is not fond of rice.
Gus. Oh where to begin with Gus? Gus is a boy who loves to eat! This is the kid who never outgrew the eating every 2-3 hours habit as a baby. He is constantly starving and always needs more. Does that translate into a kid who is easy to feed? No. Gus doesn't like textures. He doesn't like rice, oatmeal, or potatoes. I am sure there are numerous other similarly textured foods he won't eat but those are the big ones that we serve regularly at our house. He also doesn't like beans of any kind (guessing it's a texture thing too). So what does Gus eat? Fruit, and lots of it!! I had to buy a stacking fruit bowl and an overflow bowl to keep enough fruit to get us through between grocery store visits. This kid will plow through a 3 pound bag of satsumas in a sitting and ask "what's for lunch?". The first thing he learned to say in Spanish class was "Yo tengo hambre." (I am hungry). The second thing he learned in Spanish was "Yo necesito comer" (I need to eat.). He will eat 3 or 4 bananas in a sitting. He loves apples, oranges, pineapple, mango, kiwi, persimmons, peaches, pears, cherries, berries....if it's a fruit, he'll eat it. So even though he's a picky kid, I can't complain too much about his choice of indulgences. What he loves, he loves passionately and what he hates, he hates passionately.
Me. I like food. I guess I could be called a picky eater. When I was little and went to my cousin's house to play, my aunt would frequently have me play through dinner. Since I never liked what she made, she gave up offering. I was not the welcome house guest sort of eater. My favorite foods as a kid were teriyaki steak (this was in the late 70's before teriyaki was on every corner) and marinated sautéed mushrooms. My mom didn't love to cook and as we got older we ate out a lot or fended for ourselves. The result of eating what you order (instead of what your mom puts on your plate), isn't a tolerance for mediocre food. I like my food to taste good. I don't particularly like to cook, but I do like to eat good food and since eating out every night isn't feasible, I had to learn to cook food I like. Over the past 15 years of having my own kitchen, I have come to like my own cooking..
Our family came to Nicaragua open to eating new foods. We ate mostly vegetarian at home as I didn't cook meat so having meat was a treat for our kids (and Joe). We used that as a "carrot" for the kids encouraging them to look forward to our travels. Joey made the comment before we left, "I would like to have more meat in my diet". I cringe a bit thinking that my kids' reintroduction to meat is occurring in a developing country, but it's worked out well enough.
The kids have taken to eating with gusto things they would have turned their noses up at home. Joey's favorite thing I make here is "Survivor Soup", named so because we ate it while watching Survivor in San Juan del Sur. Everyone is enjoying my Nicaraguan "mac and cheese" (made with cujada, which is similar to goat cheese, and shells, white wine, tomatoes and basil). We have homemade "dedos de pollo" with garlic mashed potatoes about once a week. I have also figured out a pretty good tortilla soup. What is interesting to me is that even though we are eating meat again, the amount of meat we are eating is so much less than we would have eaten at home. For our family of 5 I make 2 chicken breasts for our "dedos de pollo". At home I would have cooked at least 5 chicken breasts. The soups that I make usually include 1 chicken thigh and leg for the whole pot. I guess that it is close to the way the Nicaraguans eat meat and even less than the "pack of cards" recommended for a healthy heart. While I would love to go back to eating vegetarian at home when we return, I am pretty sure this trip has changed how my kids will eat. I will have to make "Survivor Soup" and "dedos de pollo" but I am pretty sure I am going to add some pinto beans to the tortilla soup and dial back the chicken even more. The "mac and cheese" is pretty good as it is.
I am grateful that my kids' palates are being stretched here and they are rising to the occasion. Last night I made lentil soup for the first time in Nicaragua and while the kids made their opinions about the soup known while it was cooking, once it was served they ate the small portion I gave them (with a big portion of salad) without a single complaint, even from Gus!
Joey LOVES soup nights and raves about my cooking. Bridget keeps plugging away not raving about my cooking but not complaining either. And even though I put potatoes in the "Survivor Soup" Gus doesn't complain about them anymore and actually eats them. So we are eating differently, with less variety and the funny thing is that my kids are complaining less and enjoying food more.
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