Adult and child foods? A British thing?

[StandardRussian66]

I got bitched at yet again today by the group I meet with for lunch occasionally.
They find it very strange that my 3 year old eat “adult food”.
I have lived in 4 countries and have only ever come across this in Britain.
It is very strange?
Why would child’s only eat plain food?
My DD had calamari, for reference, incase that is odd. I am part Japanese so she is no stranger to fish.
Aibu to find it equally strange that some toddlers were still being fed mashed food?

I’m British but my family are from another country.

My kids are pretty good with spicy food (not chilli hot) but they’ll eat curries, they will also eat most pasta dishes etc. If I’m out dependent on the restaurant I would usually order them both something from the adult menu to share. E.g lasagna or fish and veg/chicken and veg. My sis in law has fussy eaters so her kids will often have chicken nuggets etc but sometimes my kids do too. I just think variety is important.

I have never seen a child older than 1 eat from a pouch. Also baby led weaning is very popular now so lots of babies are never given mushed up food.

My ds will eat most things and I just give him what I eat at home but children's menus are handy as they are smaller potions and are often just versions of some of the mains. Ordering for an 18 month old from the main menu would be a waste of money and food.

Prawn cocktail is a doddle to make and DS loves fish, he'd had it dozens of times by now if it wasn't for the fact it's bad for him. Same with steak.

Deep fried calamari is likely to be high in salt too.

He loves fish so would probably love it. Shame.

dept
This particular mum always gives her pouches when out. And she won’t let her out of her pushchair. It’s very strange.
No learning difficulties. Child shared a rocky road with me so no issues with eating solids!

I don’t really take any notice of salt and sugar.

Can you show me where the NHS advises that you can’t feed a child rare steak?
Also, why are you singling out prawn cocktail in particular? Does he like prawns? Mine do, I’ve just never given it to them in Marie Rose sauce. I’m sure you could make a reduced salt version though?
And no, fried calamari isn’t high in salt if you don’t add salt to the batter.

Prawns are high in salt.

Rare meat carries a higher risk of parasites. Would just be an annoyance to a healthy adult, more of an issue in a toddler.

My point is, it's not always possible to feed your kids of the adult menu. Or at least, not advisable.

For the record, DS loves my sag paneer 😜

I am not at all worried about feeding my toddlers the level of salt in prawns. They would not eat enough of them for it to be an issue.
Yes I realise rare meat can carry parasites, I was just interested as to where the NHS advises against feeding it to toddlers?

Well, certainly in1994 I wouldn't have dreamed of making special food for my toddlers

Were your whole family eating alphabetti spaghetti and Birdseye potato waffles then? Because that is the kind of food I grew up on in the 70s and 80s, while my parents ate proper food (spag bol, fray bentos pies and Vesta curries).

That's about steak tartare where the rare parts are exposed to air and not cooked. An ACTUAL whole steak, cooked on outside and rare in inside, is fine.

That is weird then. Maybe it's because she knows the child will reliably eat it?

For those of you saying this is a class thing, I have to disagree. I work in a v posh boarding school. On their birthday the children get to choose the menu. They can choose any of about 12 meals, a mix of regular and ‘child’ food. 9 times out of ten they will choose chicken nuggets, beans and chips (god I hate chicken nuggets!). It’s certainly not a class thing in their case.

We all eat the same here can’t see the point of making different foods when eating out the children also pick what they want.

@StandardRussian66

"I don’t really take any notice of salt and sugar."

You should do. It's very bad for your children's health not to.

The rare meat thing came from our HV.

Anyway, my point is, that a lot of adult food is not suitable for very young children. My DS generally eats what we eat (did BLW) but there are restaurants we can't eat it because the food is not suitable. You also don't know what cafes or restaurants are putting in stuff. Even a sandwich often has margarine or some other crappy, low fat spread on.

What do you think will happen to your child for having a restaurant meal once a week?

Same here. I would never add salt to my children’s food but I am not going to get worked up about the amount of salt in the handful of prawns they’d eat, or a scraping of margarine the odd time they have a sandwich in a cafe.

Was that to me?

DS eats out a couple of times a week as it is.

He's fit as a lop.

I think I tended to stick to the usual kids’ meals like sausages/fish fingers when at a grown up type restaurant as I didn’t want to waste money buying a meal for my DC or DGC to ‘try’ only to find they wouldn’t eat it. So we stuck to what we knew they’d eat. Easier to try new things at home.
Hadn’t realised it was a British thing.

Oh God, this thread is comedy gold. It should've in classics.
We have gone from fussy toddlers to class to racism and now we have landed on competitive healthy eating.

Even a sandwich often has margarine or some other crappy, low fat spread on

Good grief, how will your PFB cope with the horror?

That’s very interesting. I have never heard of anyone my choosing a restaurant because the food might be too salty for the child?

Not*