Bon Appetit'! The Simple Secrets To Encouraging A Love For Exotic Cuisine In Your Youngsters
/The food is one of the best things about going away. Whether you’re embarking on a pizza-filled Italian trip or are dying to get your hands on some Spanish paella, days surrounding yourself in the best cuisines are guaranteed to go down well. At least, they are for you. Your kids, on the other hand, may struggle.
Sadly, even the best young eaters are sure to pale when confronted with a menu they don’t recognise. The language difference in listings alone could shake their confidence. Pair that with potentially unfamiliar food choices, and you’re looking at a trip where you always have to seek out the one available English diner.
That won’t be fun for anyone, and it’s no way to help your kids embrace new eating experiences which, by the way, are a fundamental part of their travel lessons. Luckily, there are ways you can overcome this back home, and we’re going to look at them here.
1. Make sure your home menu is varied
If you only ever serve your kids home favourites, is it any wonder they’re sceptical of new menus? Something as simple as incorporating foreign foods on a daily basis should be enough to set things in motion here.
It could be that you seek authentic Mexican enchiladas, or perhaps check the recipe here for a seafood paella that takes you all straight to Spain. Over time, your kids will come to look forward to these staples as much as they do the home dishes. And, that makes them far more likely to order these items on your next trip.
2. Have fun with trying new foods
If your kids are slightly fussier, you may need to work that bit harder to get them trying exotic dishes. That’s fine too, and success here tends to be as simple as finding ways to make this fun for them.
Blindfolded taste tests are a fantastic option as they remove judgements on unfamiliar appearance alone. Equally, having your kids guess where each meal comes from could distract them and see them happily munching away in no time.
Credit: Unsplash.
3. Involve them in the cooking process
It can also be hugely helpful to encourage your kids into helping with the cooking process for foods like these. Reluctance to try new things, especially when food-related, primarily comes down to little more than not knowing what those things are.
The Works offers a brilliant selection of discount cookery and baking books to help get kids creative in the kitchen.
By breaking down the ingredients (all of which should be familiar), you can reassure your kids no end. Then, when they do see similar meals on a foreign menu, they’re far less likely to shy away.
When it comes down to it, success here is relatively easy to come by, and it could make a massive difference to your travel experiences as a family.
If you can’t get enough of exotic foods when you travel, you definitely need to tackle this issue sooner rather than later so that most overseas restaurants become a viable option for everyone, at last.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
