food fads

At what point do you intervene? My 2yo son has had several -- first it was green beans, then pumpkin, now it is tomato/egg.


He eats other stuff if his current love is not available, but lately he asks both of our ayis to make him "xi hong shi chao ji dan!!!!" [tom/egg] every day [he sings a little song]. He doesn't much care for meat, so I am happy for him to get the protein, and he'll also eat tofu or most of the things that we would eat anyway.


I suspect that part of it is actually his delight at being able to communicate and he will move on to something else soon. It is just that it happens to be one of my favorite dishes, too, and really quick and easy for ayi, so we are eating it 3 times a week. Maybe 4. And occasionally he will eat an entire dish by himself.

I think kids need to learn to eat a varied diet.


Our kids must eat what is served. If they don't like one part they must still have at least one bite to taste it. However they can't leave it all on the plate.


They may once a week or so ask for their favorite food if they have been good.


They may choose which fruit they want after the main course out of the ones we have available.


Come to think of it, we don't know what will be served either as our helper makes the menu so we are in the same boat. ;)

The trick is to make the veggies really tasty. When I was a kid there'd be a lot of veggies simply boiled mercilessly just to ensure any hint of flavor was properly removed. Bland bland bland. Yech...


By contrast my kids get asparagus sauteed with olive oil and garlic, oven baked potatoes with saffron, sauteed choi sum, marinated and grilled chicken skewers with peppers and onions.


Setting an example is also important. We try to eat what our kids eat.

Thank you everyone. I guess the take home message is that as long as kids are eating a good variety it is okay but once I start to wonder if he is eating something too often it is probably time to bring it down to once or twice a week.



We actually don't even insist on one bite [unless we hear complaining] - there are certain foods that I loathe that my kids love [cauliflower], and I think one of the joys of chinese style cooking is that there is always plenty of choice.


One day my husband and I noticed that our favorite foods just happen to fall into the groups that are considered "protective" for the diseases that run in our families. So, for example, my family gets a lot of cancer, and lists of foods that are high in antioxidants are pretty much lists of foods that I love but he wouldn't even notice on a buffet table. For his family, heart disease is prevalent and he loves foods like oatmeal. Might be a coincidence.