raising tiny foodies
One of the best parts of traveling as a family is watching your kids experience the world with fresh eyes. New places, new sounds, new customs—and of course, new food.
But teaching kids to be adventurous eaters doesn’t start on vacation. It starts at home, slowly and consistently, in ways that feel fun instead of forced.
If you’ve ever worried that your child only eats three beige foods and crackers, you’re not alone, and sometimes our kids do that too!
Our goal is to raise kids that are receptive to new flavors.
Here’s some things I’ve learned…
Adventurous eating is a skill, and like any skill, it can be built over time.
Building respect for the process of food preparation is a key part of this process.
Breaking bigger meals into component parts exposes kids to flavors while also letting them decide how to build their meal.
“Adventurous” is in the eye of the beholder. How you cook, eat dinner and build flavors is personal and culturally specific. My definition may not fit yours and vice versa, and that’s OK!
It’s not a linear journey! If your kids are sliding back into mac and cheese, nuggets and butter noodles, all is not lost.
Comfort foods and adventurous foods are not mutually exclusive. One of my kids eats nuggets with hoisin sauce.
Important Note: Neurodiverse kids (ND) can also have a more sensitive sense of taste and need food, flavors and textures to be separated. This is no situation an indicator of maturity or parenting style. We have a flavor and texture-sensitive ND kid and absolutely understand too!
building taste
Exposing kids to new flavors starts at home!
Building taste and appreciation for a variety of flavors starts at home. Here are some dishes in our regular rotation at home / takeout.
Mediterranean food: kabob, shawarma, pasta dishes
Chinese: dumplings, fried rice, rice noodle stirfries
Indian: curries (I love making these at home so I can moderate the spice level) - palak paneer, butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, daal
Mexican: street-style tacos with fish, shrimp, chicken or ground meat with tons of sides, toppings and sauces
Vietnamese: pho, bahn mi
Korean: soondoobu, korean fried chicken
build respect for cooking
Getting kids involved in cooking to get them to appreciate it!
Even if my kids absolutely hate a dinner, I want them to recognize that someone went to the effort of cooking a meal for them. We need to be respectful and kind. Involving kids in cooking, in a safe way, and doing family cooking classes is a great way to model this!
Our rules for “no thank you” food:
Be cool, don’t push the food off your plate
Don’t say anything mean.
If anyone asks if you want more and you don’t, just say “no thank you.”
This takes time to teach! One of my kids once said “Mom, I’ll say this is a no thank you bite because I don’t want to say it’s gross.”
make meals diy with “choose your own adventure”
Let everyone build their own plate!
When I serve the kids, I break the food down as much as possible and everyone can customize their own plate. This means that:
Sauces go on the side.
Proteins are served on their own.
Carbs are served on their own.
Veggies are served on their own.
Of course, I love a one-pot meal too and sometimes those happen! But if I’m making tacos, I’ll serve them “deconstructed” so everyone can pick and choose what they want. It’s more dishes but I only make one dinner.
what even is adventurous?
Determine what is adventurous for you and your family.
If you’re raising kids in India, Germany, or Colombia, what is “adventurous” to them will be totally different from our kids being raised in the US in a multi-cultural family.
It’s a priority for me and my husband that our kids are receptive to new tastes. This doesn’t mean that they love everything they try but our goal is to raise people that are respectful of other cultures, flavor profiles and tastes. We want them to go to a friend’s house for dinner, try the meal and say “thank you” NO MATTER WHAT. We don’t want them to: (1) say anything rude to anyone that has gone to the effort to prepare a meal for them and / or (2) ask for a separate meal.
True story - once a kid at my house demanded a hot dog on the spot. We were eating lasagna… hot dogs were not being served!
expect backslides
Tastes change over time!
As kids grow, their preference for different tastes is going to change wildly.
My oldest went through a phase where she loved taro! Now she really prefers pasta and nuggets and that’s absolutely OK. The key is that she will try something and just say “no thanks” if it’s not for her. While we may consider this a “backslide” in her adventurousness, that’s totally OK. It’s also just her finding what she likes and doesn’t like.
comfort & adventure can go hand in hand
Mixing comfort + adventure together is key!
I love eating boxed mac and cheese with Mexican hot sauce. Why can’t we enjoy comfort food alongside more exciting, adventurous food? We totally can and so can kids.
Here’s an unhinged dinner we did with Vietnamese summer rolls + a big charcuterie board.
the bottom line
The key to getting kids to try new foods on vacation?
Starting to build their exposure and tolerance of new flavors at home, plus their kindness around food preparation.