Try it, it’s yummy!
Ever since she was five months-old, my little one has had a curious palate. Like other typical infants she first started with pureed vegetables and fruits, and for her it was love at first taste.
As she grew, we kept introducing new things for her to try such as black bean puree (aka Abuelita’s frijoles) and rice porridge (Ahma’s favorite). With bright eyes and a two-teeth smile, she always seemed excited to eat.
I laugh now but as a first-time mom, I first tried to make her plate look colorful and pretty. Very soon, I realized babies do not care about aesthetics. It was smashed, explored, tasted, thrown and eaten all in about 5 minutes.
Messy is good, eating is good. We would get worried about how fast she was eating. Luckily, she never choked or vomited, so her pediatrician confirmed she was fine and that some kids are simply fast eaters.
Adventurous Eater
My husband and I like to think of ourselves as adventurous when it comes to eating and we want her to be adventurous too. As soon as we could, we introduced sushi. Yup, raw fish!
We were excited to share one of our favorite sushi restaurants with her. A restaurant where we had many late-night dates (remember those?). With low expectations, we gave the sushi restaurant a try for lunch.
While enjoying appetizers, we saw our little toddler try to use chopsticks and eat edamame. So far so good but will she eat tuna? With confidence, we offered the salmon first and without skipping a beat, she chewed and asked for more.
We tried to stay neutral and gave her more while we secretly cheered inside. Finally, we did give her tuna and she had some and then she was done. Hooray! We had successfully enjoyed a delicious sushi lunch with a toddler.
Sure, it was the quickest sushi lunch ever and we did not stay for dessert, but we did it. Honestly, we were completely expecting her to spit it out, and wail “No, yucky!” And possibly have a major meltdown (which she has had at other restaurants).
But it was a big deal that she was part of it, she actually ate and enjoyed it! It was an amazing first try. We have taken her to eat sushi several times now and it is one of her favorite things to eat but as my husband jokes, “It gets expensive fast.”
Global Cuisine
We are lucky that she is into global cuisine. She is now almost four years-old and she loves Mexican food, Chinese food, Indian food (she makes naan sandwiches), Thai food (loves pad Thai), Korean food (loves the appetizers), Cuban food and more.
She has eating challenges too. Sometimes she will only eat carrots, croutons and olives from salads. She can also get very selective but we count all the small wins. Especially ordering beyond the kid’s menu!
My Kid-Approved Restaurants around Ventura County:
Here are some of my favorite kid-approved restaurants that I think your family will enjoy too.
Los Agaves Mexican Restaurant – multiple locations
Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant – Thousand Oaks
Maru Kitchen – Westlake Village
Lure Fish House – multiple locations
Bon Appetit
Bon Appetit! Let me know what other kid favorites are out there. We love to explore new places.
Great recommendations! I can totally relate, we’re doing baby led weaning with my 9mo and it’s great being able to take him with us and enjoy a family meal. Yesterday he downed half an avocado in about two minutes. Can’t wait for the day we can introduce him to sushi too.
Great article! I wish my first child was an adventurous eater… he’s so picky and slow to try anything new. My second child will start solids later this year. I’m going to use your techniques to encourage her to be an adventurous eater. Thanks for the restaurant recommendations too!