Coco is coming up on 11-months old, and she’s eating everything at this point in time. If you’ve been with me for any sort of length of time, you’d know that I’m really about the food. Obsessed might not be the word I’d use, but I do love food. I love to shop for food. I love to prepare food. I love to eat food. I love to talk about food. I love to read cookbooks in bed. For fun. I make notations in the margins of recipes I’ve cooked in one of my dozens of cookbooks that states when I prepared the food, who was with us when we ate it, if it was a hit or not. I think this is a neat way to pass along a little recorded history to my girls when they are older and on their own and nourishing their own family.
And little Coco is proving, just like her older sister, to be quite the gourmand. Our neighbors had us over last night for dinner and served a white chili, which had white corn and chicken and white beans and a bunch of hot peppers in it, along with delicious homemade cornbread which also had a lot of peppers in it, and Coco could not get the food into her mouth fast enough. I think that our neighbors might have thought that we were exaggerating when we said that the girls would pretty much eat anything, and I’m proud to say that they had to eat their thoughts.
I’m often reminded of the girls’ pediatrician, a very charming older man who was also the pediatrician of my husband and my brother- and sister-in-law when they were young. I like to think that for an older guy he’s pretty progressive. When Pea was coming up on six months, he mentioned to us that we ought to start thinking about putting her on solids, and among his useful advice was also this little gem of knowledge: Indian babies are raised on curry, Latino babies are raised on peppers, so don’t think you have to be sooo cautious with your babies.
And so, we weren’t. Pea’s first food at a restaurant was at 7-months old. She ate – or rather inhaled – Chana Masala, which is an Indian dish of chickpeas and curry, and my all-time favorite meal. And Coco? As brave as we were with Pea, we were even braver with Coco. And it seems to be paying off. So I guess I can now cross off “raise good eaters” from my To Do list.
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Wonderful! I love your ‘notes in the cookbook margins’ idea!! I’m going to steal it! Thanks!
I’m taking this post to heart. Bear is a fabulous eater, but I haven’t tried anything spicy or ethnic on him yet. Sounds like I need to step up to the plate! (so to speak)
Isn’t it nice to not have to resort to the kids’ menu?
My little one is the same way, she’d rather have what we’re having. And she loves it all. The only problem is she doesn’t have the spoon-to plate-to mouth coordination down yet so she gets stuck with finger food sometimes. Still, it’s nice to have the hope that she wont ever get stuck in a chicken nuggets and macaroni rut.
I am envious. I, too, love food and am sad that my daughter is very picky at the moment. It makes mealtimes hard and, well, that is sacred time.
Hey, I know. I’ll just send Clara to your house for a week and she’ll be all ready to go!!
Your children are beautiful! And what an inspiring story. Last night I gave my 8 month old some bits of rice for dinner for the first time. She loved it and just gobbled it up with her one tooth and gums.
Then I tried some rice with a little bit of sauce from my beef with vegetables and she just inhaled it. I am so happy that I haven’t had any problems with feeding her.
Did you hear that? that’s the sound of me turning pea green with envy. I love food. My husband loves food. We are total food-o-philes. Our son will eat almost nothing and what he does eat, he repeats and repeats. I would love it if this anecdote of yours were mine to tell. Good for you and the girls.
Melissa, Fortunately we’ve had the same experience with our two kids. Both are very adventurous eaters and have no food allergies. Just as your pediatrician schooled you, I was also told that my kids experienced various flavors/spices/tastes via my breast milk when they were nursing.
That’s awesome! I wish Laiq was a better eater, he’s pretty picky, but he does love anything with some spice. Our parents are from Pakistan, and although, I don’t make a lot of traditional food (cause I don’t know how), he does eat it up. He loves mexican and even italian… just don’t even think about presenting with a plate of gerber! By the way I think it’s so cute what you do in your cookbooks, I’m sure Pea and Coco will love reading your notes!