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?

Oh ok. Sorry.

What type of food do you cook at home? If you don't mind me asking? That's such a mixture of cultures. I'm now fascinated!

I mean if I'm being really honest, there is an issue with food in Britain right now, and many other cultures handle kids food much better. Lots of pp have explained why this is, I have given my experience, but I wasn't ready to say that while I felt a bit under attack

I find the same attitude about types of food for different meals. Like"breakfast" foods not being allowed after11 am. Why is that? Or my ds friends being boggled by the idea of eating ravioli for breakfast. It's all food, what does it matter when you eat it? It all goes into you equally.
I have a friend who will not let her child eat waffles for dinner. She says it isn't food.

Totally weird. But we all have our weird rules that we don't even know we have until they are questioned.

We eat a lot of Japanese food, DD really like fish not so much meat. But I like to cook lot of things. Russian food quite boring so not cook that too much. We try to eat healthy but also like fish fingers and pies and sausages, especially Bratwurst.

I am outraged that Italian food culture is compared to the British one.
Italian children eat the same food as adults , at the same time. Children's table happens at gatherings for space reasons and the food is the same. Italian food is not just a pasta dish
OP I agree that British culture strongly separates adult and children's food. It is quite obvious, look at school dinners for example.
As already said upthread it is up to the family wether certain foods are familiar. Mine where weaned one whatever we were having , their portion taken out before sat was added was the only difference.

TitaniasCloset The Trussell Trust run the 'Eat Well Spend Less' course to teach budgeting and healthy cooking on a budget. If that sort of thing interests you perhaps have a look and see if there is a centre near you running it...they may want volunteers?

You all can take my posts any which way you feel. By all means stereotype me as a sun and daily mail reader. Really couldn't give a shit. But I sensed a feeling of superiority and a classism in some pp so I responded to that because it pissed me off.

I also posted some nice constructive things, but yes ignore those too. The working class British woman is clearly a racist.

I haven't read all the thread and even if I had, I would still have the right to comment on one post rather than your entire input on the thread/other people's posts. Now you're trying to justify your objectionable and nonsensical post by saying that if anyone questions it then they must be opposed to the British working class.

I can't comment for other people but personally I have no problem with the British working class (which includes large portions of my family). I have a problem with your post telling the OP to get back to her own country.

Maybe you didn't mean it to read that way - but it certainly does.

Kids food makes sense for the restaurant and parents.

Restaurants want to price discriminate like many other services. They know an adult will be paying for kids who will be deciding whether to go based on total cost. A family of 5 all having adult meals is very expensive so restaurants want to charge them less per head than adults without kids who only have to pay for themselves.

Restaurants could charge less for kids and do smaller portions of the same thing but there is not really demand.

For many people going out is a treat and so they let kids choose what they want. I don't think it is a time to be trying exotic foods. What's the point of spending £30 sea bass when they would rather have chicken nuggets? You may as well give them the sea bass at home and save a few quid.

The fact kids like chicken nuggets is a reflection of our culture. It is partly about expense. I never ate steak as a child at because it is too expensive to feed to a family so I would never have chose it when I went out.

I also think we have an order of food in our head that we consider normal to adventurous. For example English food is normal, Italian is getting there nowadays, Indian is getting a bit more exotic and Japanese is downright weird.

It is almost seen as a ladder to climb and kids start at the bottom. If your kid won't even eat peas and carrots then it wouldn't occur to people that they may like sushi. Of course the Japanese ladder is probably the other way around.

Yeah my posts aren't nonsensical love.

Oh and get over yourself

Yeah my posts aren't nonsensical love.

I was clearly referring to just one of your posts.

Oh and get over yourself

I'll try.

My DCS once ate off the kids menu and could not handle it, ever since then I have just reverted to taking my DCS to mc'd's beforehand and then giving my DCS desert at the restaurant.

On a forum which is obviously for grown ups, surely no one should describe a fellow poster’s contributions in such a derogatory way.

I am, of course, commenting on the handbags interlude above.

My DS eats different food to us, usually because his mealtimes have naturally become different, especially main evening meal he has at 5.30ish. Me and DH eat at 8.30/9 whilst he is asleep. I've noticed other countries don't usually have a 7pm bedtime - the toddlers eat later with them. maybe that's the part of the reason for the difference?

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 don't think calamari is an unusual food to give a toddler. Your friends are unusual if they made any bitchy comments about that. My DS would eat it and he likes most fish. I agree with you it is strange that a toddler is still fed mashed food - I haven't come across this. Chicken nuggets while the parent has something more exotic. Yes, definitely a thing. Puree - no, thats strange.

OP, it may indeed be specific to the area you live (or an unfortunate collection of "friends"). My English/British friends have a fairly similar attitude to kids' food as my continental friends, i.e. they would prefer the kids to eat proper food, but if it's easier they feed them bland stuff / pizza. I can't think of anyone I know who would attack you for feeding your children normal food - they might feel envious if they have a picky eater themselves.

I wonder if the people you were eating with felt implicitly judged by you for feeding your children better, so they went on the attack propelled by a feeling of inferiority? (And if so, it's obviusly not remotely your fault!)

www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/02/ultra-processed-products-now-half-of-all-uk-family-food-purchases

Aibu to find it equally strange that some toddlers were still being fed mashed food

Not read the full thread but not all toddlers learn to chew really early on. My ds did not. I wondered if he would ever learn to chew! He was about 2 before he ate solid food on a regular basis. Before that he ate lots of things like porridge, yogurt, potato pies etc. I used to mash bananas, then one day he ate slices and a few days after that he ate a whole one. Just like that And from then on he could eat solids and chew properly. But he was very close to his 2nd birthday at the time. I don't think it's that unusual.

However, I think there is too much pandering to kids' fussiness but I can't say anything because I pander to my kid's fussiness. It's quite hard cooking for all of us in our house because we all like different things. It's easiest when we go on holiday, eat out and can choose what we like. My luxury would be a personal chef who would cook for all of us.

OK. Not read all of this but I get it.
I have DTs and ordered from the 'adult' menu and split the portion wen they were young. It was more in keeping with what we ate at home and worked out cheaper.
I got a 'really?' when I said they had sausage, mashed potatoes and onion gravy as one of their first dinners. I was told I was brave trying them on mussels when they were 4. I got rolled eyes, almost like it was a stealth boast when I said DT2 has yet to find a food, which we eat, that he hasn't eaten too.

We eat lots of different types of food at home and I will always let them try what we have. (they are now 10 so I realise they will turn into burger scoffing teens in the near future). I am still waiting to find a food that they don't like. I have a few as does DH but they just seem to like strong flavoured stuff and are not fussed about texture. I know a lot of kids don't like mushrooms because of this.

I see your POV OP.

Over 50% of the food we buy in the UK is 'ultra processed.' As a nation, our childrens' diets are rubbish.

www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/02/ultra-processed-products-now-half-of-all-uk-family-food-purchases

That is quite shocking!