World food for toddlers

[pppuzzler]

I would be really interested to know what mums from countries / cultures other than Britain give their toddlers to eat.

Oooh watching with interest.

( lame attempts at multicultural snacks include home made pizza, mini pitta breads, rice, fruit kebabs, kartofflen salaten)

tortilla de patata
chicken croquettes
estofado de lentejas (lentil stew)
omelette and ham
chicken and veg rice
veg mash (leeks, carrots and potatoes)
white fish (grilled)
pasta bolognese
baked pasta
sausages
stir-fries (sausage or chicken based)

Well I'm not from another culture but have always included a lot of middle eastern food in our diets as I grew up there.

Lots of couscous and tagines

stir fries with lots of garlic, coriander and ginger

Basically DS always got the same food as I was eating anyway, including curries, I would make them with half the usual spices and leave out the chillie. Now he can eat them with all the spices, just no chillie. He's 5.

I'm british but dp is indian. He was brought up on indian food, but also has african influences from the years his family spent in Tanzania before he was born.

As a family we eat a variety of food, from all over the world and the kids eat whatever we eat.

Particular favourites from dp's upbringing include:

kitchuri (rice and dhal flavoured with turmeric, asafoetida, then ghee mixed in)
thepla (fenugreek flavoured rotis)
betata vada (potato with garlic and chilli battered and deep fried)
mogo (cassava - boiled then fried)
puris with indian mango soup
dhals - mong, channa, urad
dosa (rice flour pancakes)
gathia

they love anything though, spanish (tortillas, paella), italian, chinese (love sweet and sour with chicken or pork balls), morrocan is a big favourite because of the sweet spices (tagine, morrocan style spiced chicken).

dt2 sometimes complains that food is too 'picey' but we jsut add yoghurt. They both dislike bland food - they wouldn't eat something like nuggets and chips without some sort of sauce on it, and even then it is a struggle.

I put chilli in my children's food - they are 7 and 3.

chjopstheduck I can't eat bland food either without some sort of sauce, because all the food we had as children was spicey and saucey!

We used to eat kitchuri a lot as children too, you have reminded me of it and now I want some, I haven't made it for years!

we had it at the weekend. I never seem to make enough, they gobble it all down.

oh that reminds me, one of mine loves onion. He hangs around in the kitchen pinching slices of raw onion when I'm cooking. I wonder if it counts towards his 5 a day...

We eat a lot of American foods in our household. Not very exciting though.

Mediterranean finger food - sliced tortilla, olives (rationed because of salt), falafel and dolmades, pittas with hummus and salad
Both like mild-ish curry but I work from simple recipes, unlike Chops! So tarka dhal, korma etc is as good as it gets
Dh makes a mean stir-fry
Dcs have eaten all of these since toddlerhood and both like eating out at Wagamama and places like Ozer and Tas

Khichri and rice with peas,chicken or lamb. kids are not that keen on curries but eat it if it has less chillies in it.

When my two were teething I gave my two biltong to chew on ... and there is nothing nicer than a rusk for tea ..

Rooibos is also a good drink for them...

No1ErmaBombeck - mine too on three counts. Not to mention a side order of Mrs Balls with most meals.

In fact my 4 year old is addicted to chilli biltong sticks even though I find them fairly spicy and I like hot things. So how he manages I don't know. He sits with his tongue out panting like a dog but it doesn't stop him eating the stuff.

That is a cupboard staple - no chuffing HP for us!!