Trying New Foods

When we’re little and we taste things for the first time, things can get a little hairy. Check out this video and pay careful attention to the Olive part, which might be the funniest thing you’ll see all weekend. (Thanks to the ever-reliable Dan for sending our way!)

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15 Comments

Allison

I find the evolutionary explanation for initial pickiness pretty convincing (ie. new foods are dangerous unknowns and known foods are safe, so you need to try something many times to overcome an initial dislike). It also explains why kids prefer sweet flavours and dislike bitter ones (a lot of poisonous berries and plants are bitter). Certainly the “try one bite” rule reigned during my childhood and we encourage it in our household now.

But kids are so unpredictable… my little one likes things I was pretty sure she wouldn’t (capers, strong cheeses, sambal) and was not initially keen on some typical kid pleasers (bananas, potatoes). I try to never say “you won’t like it” if she’s interested to try something new. I might warn her that something is spicy or sour or bitter, but then let her make her own decision about it. And I try to never reinforce a past experience with “you don’t like —” and just present the food again if it’s part of our meal. So far, it seems to have worked as she loves bananas now and will eat potatoes. Then again, this might all be the calm before the storm and we’ll go through a super picky phase where she won’t eat anything red (this happened to a friend of mine).

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Dinner-Pal

I agree with having to try at least one bite and our kids are used to that now. If they don’t like it, they can spit it out but they must try. Our daughter has surprised me by loving garlic spiced olives and cold smoked salmon! Sometimes what they dislike is due to how it’s cooked. The same daughter hates boiled eggs but loves them fried. Thanks for sharing the video, really funny!

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Liz

I loved this video. I do still photography as a love/passion and while not a video fan, what I love is story-telling and this video told the story with its slower motion, focus and depth of field.

I do not have children and am not a person who goes gooey over babies, but I freely admit that chubby toddlers get to me and as you said – the Olive – Oh, the transition – so much fun.

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Tarah

Love it! Thank you! Got similar reaction to anchovy with my 2 year old tonight at supper when I gave him a bowl of homemade tabouleh to try. I don’t think any of the parsley-y goodness made it into his belly. I have to give him credit though, he will try almost anything as long as he sees us eating it.

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Estela

My mom never fed us salads or vegetables as side or main dishes AT ALL. Her explanation was, “I didn’t like salads when I was a kid, so I didn’t think you would either.” All we ate was the traditional (and unfortunate) Tex-Mex white flour- and fat-laden fare, something I was determined not to do with my family. So… I fed my kids everything and anything (once they were on solid foods). My son ate brussels sprouts when he was 3, and my daughter ate olives and sweet potatoes at 2. (She turned heads at restaurants when her tiny voice asked sweetly, “May I have another olid please?”) Now they are both active healthy kids, never been in the hospital for any illness, never sick, healthy weight, all that good stuff. (btw-I hate olives, but if she wanted them I gave them to her!) And the old “serve it three times before you give up” thing is how I got brussels sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, Italian sausage, sweet potatoes, mussels, sushi, salmon en papillote, and lots of other good stuff into my kids.
And Marjorie, I noticed that, too. Even if I weren’t Latina I would have noticed that.

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PARIS BEE kids blog

What cuties! However none of them looks quite as disgusted as our Little Miss whenever we try to feed her anything. The faces she makes!!!

xoxo PARIS BEE kids blog

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Juliana

I’d seen this linked a few times in the last few days but hadn’t bothered to watch it. But since *you* posted it, I did–and holy cow, that olive sequence just made my weekend. I’m still teary from laughter.

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Jessica

I’ve been working on getting my kids to nix the picky eating by having them try something different every week for a year- I’ve had some pretty good reactions like the video, but we’re having a blast doing it. I write down all of the comments they make about each food in my blog, but I love the idea for video–we’ve had some pretty good faces too. Maybe not as good as the Olive…

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Deirdre

After yet another morning with my picky now-teenager I was looking forward to this video, but it seems to be gone 🙁

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Elisa

So adorable! My daughters have always been pretty adventurous, thank goodness – but the first taste sometimes is still that funny and surprising 🙂

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