Everyone at one table!

Tastes are different. But if you cook several dishes for every meal
several dishes for every meal is a lot of work and risks your
children becoming one-sided eaters
.

«No, I don't like carrots!» 7-year-old Marco remains steadfast in his refusal, while Lisa, who is two years older, devours the last piece of carrot on her plate with relish. Lisa, for her part, refuses the potato gratin - her brother's favourite dish.
Tastes differ, and that doesn't exactly make eating together easy. But even if the tastes in your family are far apart, there are ways to ensure that everyone gets their money's worth.

Not a concert of wishes

Whether big or small, humans are creatures of habit. If you start cooking for each family member individually, it takes a lot of time and becomes the norm. Your child will get used to their favourite meals and will be less willing to experiment.
It is more time-saving and more relaxed to draw up a weekly plan together with the whole family, in which each family member can add one or two requests. Foods that you don't like can be cancelled using joker cards. These can be replaced with an alternative. For example: Lisa puts the spinach joker card on the table - and eats a carrot instead. This makes it easier to cater for different tastes without having to cook five different menus.
Dishes with individual components are often more popular with children than stews, which may contain vegetables they don't like. It is important for the relationship of trust with your child to always name all the ingredients when they ask for them and not to slip in or hide a vegetable.

Try, try, try

If your child is allowed to be present during cooking and seasoning, they will notice the smells, see the food before and after cooking and taste the change in consistency. In this way, a positive relationship with food can be established before eating and there is a greater chance that your child will become an omnivore.
However, forcing your child to eat is not a good idea. Instead, encourage your child to try again and again. It is said that a child has to try a new food over ten times before it likes it. Children between the ages of two and five in particular often suffer from a fear of new and unfamiliar things, known as neophobia. For example, they refuse to eat anything that tastes bitter or sour. However, children have an innate preference for sweet things. A sweet flavour is associated with breast milk and conveys safety - not poisonous - and a high nutrient density.
Flavour preferences develop and change in children. Dislikes of vegetables and meat are quite normal for little gourmets. Such phases do not usually last long. Ideally, children's plates should contain a large proportion of carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, potatoes or bread.
One or two portions of vegetables or fruit should also be included on the plate. If your child currently prefers fruit to vegetables or only a few types of vegetables in general, this is not a problem as long as one of these foods is consumed daily. The protein portion in the form of meat, fish, milk and dairy products, eggs, tofu or quorn completes the ideal children's plate. There are many plant-based alternatives for children who do not like meat or fish.
As soon as a certain one-sidedness creeps in and your child only wants to eat a very small selection of foods, you can make them curious about new flavours. You can do this by appealing to all the senses. This is because children taste, smell and feel more varied and sensitive than adults: they want to be offered something «on all channels». Food should therefore not only taste good, but also look, feel and smell good. Crispy and crackling dishes are exciting for children's mouths and ears and automatically taste better. Carved and moulded vegetables and fruit can awaken your children's imagination and curiosity and also taste at least twice as good.
Picture: iStock


The author:

Vera Kessens ist BSc Ernährungsberaterin SVDE  bei Betty Bossi AG.
Vera Kessens is a BSc nutrition counsellor SVDE at Betty Bossi AG.

4 tips on how to make a varied diet work

  • Raw vegetable sticks are a favourite with many children and can be prepared quickly (cucumber, carrots, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes).
  • Cooked vegetables baked with cheese or a crispy topping of ground hard bread tastes good and exciting at the same time.
  • Offer vegetables in all variations: sometimes cooked, sometimes raw, sometimes sour, sometimes sweet, sometimes with curry. If your child doesn't like cooked spinach, they may love spinach with a sweet salad dressing. Or if your child always leaves the celeriac salad out, they may love the celeriac soup with cream sauce.
  • As with all issues with children: Practise calmness. If your child doesn't eat courgettes today, it won't harm your child. That's why you don't need to pay too much attention to it.