April 20, 2011

  • For the Love of Sweet Potatoes

    The Chief loves sweet potatoes.  After fifteen (almost) years of learning to make them for him, I was finally won over to the love of sweet potatoes.  Our four kiddos?  "No thanks!"  Their reply to me everytime I offered to put sweet potatoes on their plate.  I gave them a little dollop anyway.  Actually, I put a dollop of everything on all their plates.  I encourage them to always be tasting food, even if they THINK they don't like it.  My persistence won!  Three of our four children asked for second helpings of sweet potatoes!  Sweet potato victory! 

    spotato

    I once read somewhere that your taste buds change a lot as you grow up, which affects what kinds of foods kids will eat. The theory is that kids’ around age 2-4 can’t handle really flavorful foods. Supposedly this is why they’ll only accept bland foods like cheese pizzas, mac & cheese, or chicken nuggets. I have three reasons the theory doesn't add up.  1.  What about the millions of kids in India or China who are getting the most spicy, flavorful foods ever?  2.  What about kids from 200 years ago who didn’t have chicken nuggets and cheese pizzas?  3.  What about me?  Growing up I occasionally enjoyed pizza, mac and cheese and chicken nuggets but those foods were a treat.  Most def not readily available.  We ate from the garden.  We ate venison.  We ate a wide variety of "adult" foods.  

    Regardless of the theories our tastebuds do change over time.  When I was young, there was NO WAY you could get me to eat the egg yolk from a boiled egg, avocados, or sweet potatoes.  Now, I crave guacamole!  I tasted someone's homemade guac and I am forever a lover of guac.  And boiled eggs.  Don't get me started.  If I have salad I WANT a boiled egg.  Now, I almost prefer sweet potatoes to regular potatoes.....mmmmmmm.  How my tastes have changed! 

    Serving up second helpings of sweet potatoes reminded me we should have an open mind!  Be willing to taste new things!  While we are at it, let's go ahead and persuade the kids to try it too. 

Comments (8)

  • I LOVE sweet potatoes! 
    We didn't have mac&cheese, chicken nuggets or cheese pizza all the time either. It was a special treat. We ate whatever my mom made. If we didn't, we waited until the next meal! 

    Have a great evening. =)

  • I totally agree about the taste buds changing but I like your point too about other countries.  My mom always made me eat everything there was served and if any of us kids said we didn't like something, we actually got more to eat of it so that made us learn not to complain. We never had mac and cheese, or chicken nuggets at my house...actually I can't remember ever having them at my house and we still don't.  Now pizza we did have some times but it was a treat.  Growing up I can't say I loved fruits and veggies, that's just what we ate a lot and now I can't go a day without wanting fruit.  I used to hate spicy stuff and could only stand mild salsa and stuff and now I love hot stuff.  The only thing I hated when I was younger and still do is mushrooms and most seafood.

  • we always had to try it! we also ate "adult food" we survived! HOWEVER ... I still can't stomach the texture of some foods like avacado's, sweet potatoe's or marshmellows! I Love what Elizabethmarie_1 had to say ... yup, we had to eat or go hunry until the next meal!

  • @Elizabethmarie_1 - @redladybug18 - @The_Carpers - I was at a church dinner where a little boy didn't see anything he "liked" and his mom drove to McDs and bought him a happy meal.  He sat and ate his happy meal while the rest of us had fried chicken, lasagna, coleslaw, mac n cheese, salad, rolls... and I haven't even mentioned the dessert table.  I am committed to trying new foods and having my kids try new foods.  Over and over again.  Lucky kids!  ha!  Some dear friends treated us to falafels!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falafel  They were awesome. 

  • I hated cheese as a kid....now I could eat it all the time!!! :)

    You gotta share how you prepare the sweet potatoes!

  • @celebratinglifeandmotherhood - Around the holidays I make sweet potato casserole (it's expected).  But other times I bake them (just like a regular potato) and we top them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.  My mother-in-law cans them for us.  The canned ones I put in a baking dish with the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and bake them for a half hour or so.  (That's how the kids like them best.)  Of course sweet potato fries are really yummy too. 

  • @TrentTribe - It's amazing to me what some parents will do to keep their kids happy.   It's like they don't want any confrontational problems (attitude) so they just give the kid what they want.

  • haha, I can remember hating vegetables as a child. Now I eat a variety of them. My mom is still shocked--lol!

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment