The Veranda - weeknights at the tasunkawitko house....

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weeknights at the tasunkawitko house....

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Forum Name: The Veranda
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URL: http://foodsoftheworld.ActiveBoards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=1474
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 20:28

Topic: weeknights at the tasunkawitko house....

Posted By: TasunkaWitko
Subject: weeknights at the tasunkawitko house....
Date Posted: 14 October 2011 at 10:51

as the father of four boys, this was too good not to share ~

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Replies:

Posted By: Aspen Hill
Date Posted: 15 October 2011 at 17:52

I think that was my mom.

Posted By: pitrow
Date Posted: 10 January 2012 at 10:01

I only wish I could get my wife to follow that rule. It's the way I was raised and I wish she'd enforce it with her two boys, but she doesn't. We often end up making something just for them because they won't eat what we're eating. Ticks me off to no end.

Posted By: TasunkaWitko
Date Posted: 10 January 2012 at 10:18

mike - maybe show her the picture above and explain the benefits of some good, old-fashioned rules?

i can certainly understand in some occasional situations and exceptions to the rule, and there also are a few friday nights when i prepare a http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=846&title=shrimp-scampi-scampi-alla-griglia - scampi alla griglia or some other "nice" dinner for the beautiful but overworked mrs. tas, while the kids get a frozen pizza - but for the most part - the rule is "eat what's served, because the kitchen is closed."

Posted By: pitrow
Date Posted: 10 January 2012 at 11:42

I showed it to her and she thought it was great. But it's hard to break old habits. I think it's because her dad is really picky so she grew up with her mom making special dishes for him. When we first met it was pretty much every night she/I would make something for us and something different for the kids. I'm slowly trying to break her of that, and it's working, but slowly. For the most part the kids eat what we eat now, unless like you say we make something we know they won't like, then they get something else. But every once in a while the kids will complain about something we make and then she caves and makes them something else. Damn waste of food in my book.

Posted By: Daikon
Date Posted: 10 January 2012 at 16:30

While there are undoubtedly differences between child and adult palates, I think that some kids being "picky eaters" usually is caused by a combination of bad cooks and indulgent parents. I've done my share of cooking for kids, and more often than not I've found that if I make something that the adults think is really good, the kids hungrily eat it too. There are exceptions, but they are generally for foods that many adults also don't appreciate (like stinky foot cheese.) Make crowd-pleasers, and you'll mostly please the kids too. I don't typically do anything more than maybe adjust seasoning or balance a bit (a little extra salt, sweetness, or fat; a little less acid, bitterness, or pungency; generally addressed when plating up -- yeah, I tend not to serve "family style" even when serving the family -- kids also find an attractive, composed, even whimsical plate appetising), and I frequently find kids cleaning their plates of food that their parents thought they wouldn't eat.

Usually when I run into a real problem eater, it is because a parent (typically the mother) starts off by telling the kid that he or she won't like what we are having, or insists from the outset on having a special dish made for her "picky" child. When the deck is stacked against you that way, it's hard to win. But on more than one occasion, I've waved good-bye to parents heading out on the town, promptly ignored their instructions on the few foods that their children will eat, made something delicious, and had the returning parents respond with stunned disbelief when I told them what their kids thoroughly enjoyed having for dinner.

Posted By: TasunkaWitko
Date Posted: 10 January 2012 at 17:56

i'd definitely agree on all counts, daikon. i've gotta hand it to my kids - they may not like everything i try, but they always try it, and at the very least, can form their own opinions. if they end up not liking it, then it's either my execution (possible) or their own evaluation of the dish.

some good suggestions there - thanks!

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