To not understand adult food vs kids food?

It pretty much is!

A lot of small children will only eat a limited range of foods, often bland, familiar to them and presented in ways that appeal. This is what is typically meant by 'kids food'. If your child has a wider range, then you are fortunate as it makes life much easier for you. Unfortunately contrary to what parents of adventurous eaters like to think, your child's choices will be far more down to their preferences than your efforts in introducing a range of food. Many parents would greatly prefer one meal for all, and try hard to extent their range, but their DC refuse. Your friends may well be envious of how easy you have it in that regard.

But in this case the other parents started the judginess by judging OP first?
I dont comment on other peoples food but I have had people asking " You feed yr toddler okra? And gourds?".
I am not trying to be pretentious. These are common foods for Asian children.

Kids menus wherever we have been have been reflective of the adults menu- ie wagamamas is smaller portions of noodles mainly, Spoons has a variety of meals just like the adult menu, pizza places have smaller pasta and pizzas etc; the only place I've seen solely nugget type meals is places where the adult meals are deep fried probably from frozen food?

It’s making me not want to meet up with them anymore but it would be a shame for my son as he enjoys spending time with the others toddlers.

This did make me laugh.

Having them comment on what your child sometimes eats when they're present, is enough to make you not want to meet up with them anymore?

Either you don't really like these people, or you have a very low tolerance of everyone and everything around you.

"Yeah, well that's what he fancies eating Brenda".

The end.

Slightly off topic but as an aside, funnily enough my autistic DS is the most adventurous eater of the family because he doesn’t get influenced by social constructs, so is happy to try offal, blood sausage, snails, insects etc. For him it is just food, eating heart would be the same as eating a chicken nugget.
He hates yoghurt and mousse with a passion though (texture).

I kind of get it.

Before being a parent I was very much of the "children should eat small portions of adult food!" camp.

But actually DD doesn't enjoy complex mixed flavours yet. She likes simple foods, simple flavours. I am more than happy to be given a kids menu with plain butter pasta on as I know she'll eat it.

If I saw you give your child calamari I'd probably be impressed and slightly envious.

Restaurant kids meals are just pants aren't they? If your lucky you find somewhere They're just a smaller versions of adult meals.
Personally, I don't feel like spending adult meal prices for my 16-month-old, although she would eat most stuff. And DH and I are too greedy to just give her some of ours. So normally will swap a few bits over, she'll get a bit of ours and we'll have some extra chips.
At home she'll eat most of the same stuff as us. More adventurous meal for me and DH after she's gone to bed. Dh is a proper foodie so it could be really out there.

I used to work with someone who was a keen cook but she gave her children fish fingers and chips type meals every day and then after the kids were in bed she cooked her and her DH delicious meals. I found that particularly weird, since she was very interested in and knowledgeable about food but was of the opinion that her skills were wasted on children. I presume at some point she transitioned the children to eating with their parents but I moved jobs so don't know how/when.
I'm not saying my children have never had fish fingers and chips, but if that's what they were eating it's what we were all eating. It's a quick and easy meal that's useful sometimes when you're short of time and as long as it's not all you eat I don't see any harm in freezer food once in a while. But I don't understand the tendency to treat children as incapable of enjoying a wide variety of food. When my children were young I remember several occasions when they had friends round who simply didn't recognise the food I put on the table - and it wouldn't have been anything exotic, I am not a particularly adventurous cook. Nor were they from families who couldn't afford good food which is of course a whole different issue. Given how much variety of food we have access to these days, even compared to my own childhood, I find it rather sad how many children seem to have restricted diets.

If you do believe in kid vs adult food, when do you wean them off chicken nuggets and onto calamari? Four, seven, 12? When is old enough to eat (gasp) spices?

Might be a strange question but how do kids even KNOW about " beige" food if they've never been given it?

Of course you understand it. You're just showing off that your child will eat calamari and more adult foods

Was the faux naivety needed?

Ignore them someone who feeds a pre school age child jarred baby food is not worth worrying about. The kids menu in this country is appalling. It encourages poor eating habits. We rarely eat out because of it. My middle child loves a chicken roast dinner and my youngest loves steak pie and mash. Neither are options on the kids menu.

Don’t know where you get that idea from !

my children and now grandchildren eat whatever we eat, last night was salmon with new potatoes and steamed veg ( children are 7 / 6 / 4 / 1 )

it never occurred to me to offer children different even spicy food was given ( though a little less spice )

My child always ate what we ate and enjoyed it. Sat up at the table with us for every meal even in high chair.

I hope your octopus was humanely slaughtered.

Yes - just wanted to highlight this. My DS choked on a piece of calamari when he was about 4. He still remembers it 10 years later!

Is calamari not beige food?

It probably isn't you know. My DS is a total foodie, will eat anything and always shunned kids menus as the adult menus looked more excited. My DD is the total opposite. She is a total fussy eater and kids menu type food is all she wants to eat. Both brought up exactly the same way - just different kids and different tastes. So don't blame yourself!

Yeah the quality is awful, it's bizarre. I wouldn't touch half of the stuff they're given

Also can’t stand it when the kids meals come with such a lack of variety of veg!

I remember being kn a bus and giving my DD a finger of green pepper, the mum with the pushchair on the other side of the aisle said very loudly "eww, why would you give a toddler that!" Before offering hers her bottle of coke. I have no idea what happened to that child but I can imagine.

Mine on the other hand loves eating weird and wonderful foods. I'm not a fish / shellfish fan and don't really cook it as it would just be wasted as only she would have it so whenever we go out she orders that. She mastered chop sticks years ago (I haven't) and is a delight to take to a restaurant.

I’d be surprised by the calamari too just because it’s not something we have at home ever so would be impressed another child was eating it! But I’d think it was a good thing!
In general though I totally agree with you - mine have always eaten the same as the adults. Even the baby has a version of what we have.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s we were only fed "children's food." So frozen, beige shit. The adults ate far nicer food later on. And the children's menu at restaurants seems to fit that theme too so maybe we still haven't moved on from feeding our children terrible food.

Yes! It is not just about having different options for adults/children but also the fact that children’s options are usually junk food (with a few cucumber sticks as token veg). Greasy and low quality food that adults wouldn’t eat themselves.