Food, Glorious Food!

Up until today, Charlie had eaten very few things. Namely - breast milk, some homeopathic teething tablets, and miscellaneous items like cat hair, stuffed animal fuzz and the odd sip of bath water. (Gag on those last few, I know!) Today we finally branched out into the big world of real food. I agonized for longer than I should have about what exactly we should feed him...it seemed so momentous. Eventually we settled on avocado, I liked the fact it isn't sweet and has some fat nicely built-in.

One overpriced bib, an organic avocado, some Fiji spring water, a little blender action and we were in business. Salt is typically a no-no when making baby food, but I added a tiny pinch of real sea salt. It's unprocessed, a good source of trace minerals and is actually good for baby's brain development (glial cell formation)...plus, it makes it all taste better. Yeah, we're rebels ;)

We did learn one lesson, not soon enough though. Hold the bowl, don't set it on the high chair tray unless you want a baby covered in green ooze and tiny flecks of avocado on your floor, walls, and furniture. (Although, I was quite thankful that I never got around to ordering that expensive rug I wanted for the dining room.) In between all the mess making however, Charlie seemed to enjoy his first bites of food and ate a lot more than I was expecting. After all was said and done, he got a nice dunk in the tub.

"faster, lady!"

"no really, I like it"

"ahh, a fine meal"

All this business about eating has had me thinking about what kinds of foods, traditions and attitudes (about food) I want Charlie to grow up with. As a parent, I always envisioned being more on the stricter end of things in regard to less-than healthy food choices. That being said, I am a total foodie. Not a gourmet, or a very good cook...I just really dig food. All kinds! My idea of a great book is something along the lines of Jeffrey Steingarten or Calvin Trillin.

So, I was browsing a great blog called Under the High Chair and they have a section (Foodie Facebook) where they interview different people and ask them all the same questions. One of the guy's answers really stood out for me. The question was "What will your kids never be allowed to eat?" He said:

"Nothing. Everything's fair game and will be a personal option at least once. Now I'm not promoting root beer at age 2, but I want them to know and experience everything, from bad to good. Also, I won't be promoting or serving anything and everything. But I love food, and like most foodies, enjoy the good, the unusual, the special, the unique, the one-off.

I believe that part of truly enjoying these things also means knowing what the unspecial, the usual, the downright basic Belle Province hot dog and poutine is like. It's a question of setting benchmarks. I don't want my kids to become food snobs. Kraft Dinner is consumed by millions, and although I don't want them to eat it weekly, I think it would be good for them to know what it's like so that they learn what the good stuff is. Ever make your own macaroni and cheese? It's out of this world!"

I don't know, something about that just spoke to me. So for now, we'll work on the sweet potato, egg yolk, applesauce and banana. But one day, we'll start work on Charlie's very own Omnivore's 100...complete with everything from elephant ears to frog legs. Yum!