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Food/recipes

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Original poster

Is there a point/ age at which you accept that your child dislikes a food?

42 replies

GreatGooglyMoogly · 10/04/2007 21:32

If so, when? Do you stop giving it to just them, or stop using it in family meals completely, or neither? Your views please

OP posts:

cece · 10/04/2007 21:35

I think it is impossible to not like a food - it is a learnt thing. Hence DD has whatever we have and if she 'doesn't like' it then she doesn't get anything....

However she is now 6 and still doesn#t eat any veg despite getting them on her plate every day!

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 21:37

hmmm not sure really - I've just sort of 'gone with the flow' with the DS's - they thankfully do eat most things but DS1 doesn't like red onion and DS2 doesn't like bacon on it's own (yes I know it's salty so he shouldn't have it anyhow ). I just try and serve anything with red onion up so that DS1 gets as little as possible (and he knows he can just pick out any that get in) and DS2 doesn't get bacon when I do bangers and mash with all the trimmings....

I know with babies and weaning I remember being told to try them 2 or 3 times (at least) with things before rejecting them as 'not liked' - but to try again in the future as taste buds change.....

KnayedFrot · 10/04/2007 21:38

Eevn if you dislike a food as a child, it does not necessarily mean you won;t as an older child, or adult.

I am the world's best example.

E.g. I refused to eat mince for years, or eggs in any form.

Now I happily eat both (although fried eggs are still horrible imo).

I think you have to accept that for a few years there maybe something they won't eat, and stop offering it regularly. Try again when they are older.

I think refusing to eat anything from a particular food group e.g. veg is different ans should be persevered with, to find the one or two that they might eat.

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 21:40

"I think it is impossible to not like a food"

I disagree - i've NEVER liked raw celery or chicken skin (I know the latter is wierd ) despite the fact that my parents and brother have always eaten them like there's no tomorrow.

Chandra · 10/04/2007 21:41

I have got to the point in just going with the flow (as long as he is having his 5 veg/fruits a day + 2 protein servings). He hates some things, then he loves them, then he hates them again, so I just continue serving them in case the preferences shift.

DS has the option not to eat something he dislikes as long as he has at least 3 spoonfuls of it. In most cases he just continues eating after the first spoonful no matter how much he had argued he didn't like it.

Now, there are things that he has never liked and on which I don't insist anymore i.e. banana. He has been so consistent with his dislike of them that he has been allowed a banana free diet.

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 21:42

oh and lets not forget DH's dislike of Sadza.......a MAJOR staple in the country he was born and bred in (and lived in for 24yrs ). He'll eat it, VERY reluctantly when served it but really can't stand the stuff...

Hulababy · 10/04/2007 21:43

I disagree that it is impossible to not like a food. There are definitely certain tastes and textures that some people don't like.

We go with the "try things 20 times and if they still don't like it, then it is probably a genuine dislike". Well, not exactly 20 times - but a lot of times. And we retry things every so often, just to make sure.

DD is a very good eater, and has very few dislikes. For those foods I know she dislikes I serve up an alternative.

JanH · 10/04/2007 21:45

DS2, nearly 14, will not eat mashed potato (he used to, but since his clever sister tried to make him eat peas, which he would not eat aged about 5, by hiding them in some, he won't any more - he not only detected the peas but threw the whole lot up )

He will eat peas now, but still has a phobia about mash, so when we have mash I put in some new spuds with skin for him and remove them before I mash the others.

He also won't eat things like pork chops (but will eat roast pork or casseroled pork) or lamb chops or grilled chicken (but will eat chicken casserole or curry)

It is a royal pain, GGM - I do sympathise - I keep having strops and trying to make him eat what we are eating, if it's eg chops, but he just won't so I end up letting him have a pizza. sigh.

Elasticwoman · 10/04/2007 21:46

No - keep offering but in small quantities and if poss disguised. (That's the food not you - put that false beard away.) And not necessarily very often. My dd at age 12 now eats many foods she wouldn't touch when younger. If you accept that they don't like it and avoid offering, they will never get a chance to rediscover it.

Having said all that I must admit I haven't tried my lot on liver for a long time . I suppose it depends how basic a food it is. My friend's son won't eat potatoes in any form and she always offers him an alternative carbohydrate, usually bread.

imaginaryfriend · 10/04/2007 21:47

I'd love to know how not liking a food is 'learned' - who from?

I'm a horribly fussy eater, I was a total food phobic as a child. My mum is a tremendous cook and put a lot of effort into our meal times. My brother and father polished off the lot but not me. So who did I learn that from? My mum gave me the same as everybody else and I didn't get an option, it was eat it or go without. I liked all the veg including potatoes, none of the protein things, and I didn't like puddings.

My dd is so much better an eater than me even though I've been less rigid with meal times than my mum was. She likes pretty much anything but if she is faced with baked beans she'll leave everything on her plate that they might have touched. Same with anything 'soggy' actually. It seems to turn her stomach. If she decides to like them in the future then fine but for now I just don't bother giving them to her. She gets offered baked beans regularly at school and always refuses.

RustyBear · 10/04/2007 21:48

I think there are some people who genuinely don't dislike any foods - my MIL is one & it means she can't understand anybody else disliking something - has led to major stress in our family in the past.

Her best comment was when both DS & DD refused to eat something she had given them (I've forgotten what it was) - she said "They can't dislike it - it doesn't taste of anything".......

imaginaryfriend · 10/04/2007 21:49

Chandra, I'm with your ds, bananas are the devil's food. Yeurck!

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 21:55

blimey in this house if DS2 (3) notices we've run out of bananas all hell breaks loose

colditz · 10/04/2007 21:57

ds1 will not eat anything that has been in a tin unless it is fish or meat. I accept he does not like tinned fruit, veg, pulses or pasta - although he will happily eat fresh veg and fresh and dried pasta. He has always been like that.

Ds2, however, has a passion for baked beans - he picks them up in his pincher grip and pops them into his mouth like a fat woman eating Thorntons.

cece · 10/04/2007 21:58

'I think there are some people who genuinely don't dislike any foods'

You see I am like that - it makes me so mad when dd says she doesn't like something, how can she not like it? It tastes nice, it has been cooked for her, what's not to like?

As to learning not to like things - my bil has a very limited diet - my mil panders to all sorts of whims - and prepares meals to everyones specifications. Including dd who is learning that not liking something pays off as she gets whatever she likes instead.

Sorry been to mil for weekend and this has wound me up!

moondog · 10/04/2007 21:58

wHAT IS SADZA fANNIE,AND WHERE DO THEY EAT IT?

cece · 10/04/2007 22:00

Now trying to think of soemthing I don't like..... [drums fingers on table]

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 22:05

Moondog - Sadza is made from Mealie (Corn) Meal (looks like really fine flour) oh sod it here is some information on it........and yes it really is hard to cook so I'm glad DH doesn't like it LOL

JanH · 10/04/2007 22:07

I don't like beetroot, kidney, blue cheese or most salad, if it helps, cece

JanH · 10/04/2007 22:07

(Or piccalilli, red cabbage, dill pickles or most things in jars with vinegar except pickled onions)

moondog · 10/04/2007 22:17

Ah,mealy-meal which i remember from growing up in Zambia.
I know whop you are now Fanny.

cece · 10/04/2007 22:24

Janh thanks but I like all of those things, especially pickles, beetroot and blue cheese - yum yum

fannyannie · 10/04/2007 22:25

blimey you're a bit slow MD - most people figured it out AGES ago

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 10/04/2007 22:28

My dd is 13 and doesn't eat fruit. And I mean no fruit, no fruit flavours, fruit juice, fruit , nothing, never has.

Am patiently waiting for her 'adult' tastes to kick in as mine did as I would only eat peas and now eat all veg.

Ever hopeful!

SueW · 10/04/2007 22:29

When they quietly leave it on the side of their plate and don't make a big deal about it. When they are eating a varied diet anyway.

I won't eat mussels. I don't think I'm allergic to them but I've been violently ill every time I've eaten them. I have no desire to repeat that experience.

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