31 Days Challenge- Day 24: Try a New Food Tuesday- Don't Be Afraid of Flavor!

There is a tendency to feed kids bland foods- to assume that kids will only like bland foods. Before I had kids, I remember watching my niece, who was about 14 months old, at the time, eating hummus and I was surprised.

With my own kids, I have learned that teaching them to embrace flavors, even strong flavors, is an important part of teaching them to be good eaters.

Your challenge today is to encourage your children to try something with a strong taste. This may be as simple as putting a little bit of a condiment on their finger (and yours) and having fun saying, "One, two, three, try it!!"  It's ok, if they pull a face, it's ok if they follow up with a drink or something else- what you want to show them is that, yes, it had a strong flavor, but it was ok... introduce flavors enough and they will begin to adapt.

Other suggestions: Add a little extra spice to the meal,  or do a taste testing- try to find something sour, sweet, spicy, bitter, and savory.

Try a New Food Tuesday

This week for, "Try a New Food Tuesday," the kids tried feta cheese. My kids may have had some before mixed into recipes, but had never tasted it's full flavor. I found some in the fridge and wanted to start using it before it went bad.

We pulled together a last minute dinner of pasta with rotisserie chicken and sauce because we had leftover sauce and chicken that I didn't want to go to waste. I gave each of my kids a small bowl of feta cheese to add to their pasta and told them they could give it a try.

True to their personalities... My daughter pulled multiple faces, but kept trying it. My older son dumped the whole bowl on his pasta without tasting it and ate his bowl of para without comment. My youngest picked up each piece of cheese and ate it individually.