What unexpected foods do your kids like?

[Imicola]

Sometimes I'm surprised by the things my DD (6) will eat, so I wondered what unexpected hits have you found with your kids at dinner time?

Last night I made a chicken and vegetable barley stew, and it was all gone! I had expected it to be rejected, or at least the veg picked out, but nope.

That must have been very stressful, but reassuring that a safe food was also a reasonably nutritious one!

Stilton both my kids love it we get through so much at home.

I think olives and smoked salmon are very common for young children to like. They’re always a hit at parties and in my NCT group, it’s the one thing they all gobble down! Mine also like oysters, clams and mussels. Think it’s the novelty factor.

DD loves a charcuterie board! Such refined tastes!

Reminds me of having a friend of my daughter’s round for a play date. She was about 5. I asked what snacks they wished, getting the crisps and other shit kids like out, and she asked for olives. So I gave her olives, and she then wanted some chicken on the side that she’s spied in the fridge . I was a little surprised. As was my daughter. Who couldn’t beleive she was hoovering olives and chicken rather than chocolate and crisps. 😀

Smoked salmon and olives is always a hit with small kids.
Mine both love parmasean, the proper aged stuff, they'll eat massive chunks of it.
They also love mackerel, pesto, walnuts. 2yo loves anything with truffles, puts tons of black pepper on everything and likes chilli sauce. They'll also eat homemade tartar sauce by the spoonful.

You can also guarantee if I buy an expensive steak they'll be all over it but not bothered with a cheaper bit. Actually anything I spend money on as a little treat they end up loving!

DS loves asparagus and satay stir fry. I also very tentatively placed a fish pie containing quite a bit of smoked haddock in front of him the other day and he wolfed it down. It could all change tomorrow, though, as he used to love beetroot but won't entertain it now.

My son will eat cooked onions all day if he could. I didn't get on with eating onions until I was at least 18, but he adores them. I love onions now as an adult, but as a kid I couldn't stand the texture or feel of them. Whereas he would happily be given a bowl of fried onions as a snack if we let him.

Prawns, crab, cockles, mussels, olives, gherkins.
Won't eat chips

8 year old, always been a good eater and will try anything, recent surprises were mussels and razor clams.
She loves duck/venison/salmon/pesto/spicy Indian and Thai curries/prawns/mackerel/tinned sardines. There will be others too. I don't eat most of those listed, only the curries.

Thai green curry and picked beetroot. Has recently decided she doesn't like sandwiches though

My three year old likes smoked salmon and strong cheese. I can’t stand smoked salmon! He has much more sophisticated tastes than me.

Mine has demolished sushi since weaning, with a particular love of anything involving raw salmon or tobiko (tiny fish eggs). Still loves them at 5 but will not eat a bloody fishfinger. Sigh.

Similarly loves olives, squid, mussels, edamame, anything involving truffles, but will not eat sausages.

It's a pain as it's impossible to feed him off a kids menu.

Ahhh! I’m still finnicky about onion. Much prefer it raw.

My nephew will always ask for steak instead of nuggets with chips at a restaurant, which I find very funny.

My eldest is mushroom mad. Loves the things. But won’t eat a biscuit.

DS has always loved olives and pickled gherkins. His big treat at the end of a supermarket shop as a toddler was to go and choose some pick-and-mix olives at the deli counter, and his first (and pretty much only) proper wailing Tesco tantrum involved him shouting 'I want my olives noooooooooow!' Gherkins came a bit later, and he still loves them so much that a friend of ours buys him a catering-sized jar of them every Christmas.

My 3yo loves venison, risotto, and chicken quinoa 🤣🤣 He's also recently become very keen on dipping his food into sauce. Will not touch bolognaise or chips.

My toddler is mushroom obsessed too and will gladly eat a bowl full of them, but won't eat sandwiches, pizza (will pick off mushrooms and chew on crusts but that's it), fish fingers, and many other "normal" things! I love mushrooms too, but never ate them as a child.

Ha my very fussy DD discovered mussels and clams while on holiday aged 5 in Italy and then snails in France a few years later. She’s now 13 and still very fussy in every way but that girl loves a mollusc!

My kids have always loved vegetables. Especially things like broccoli and peas. They also adore Brussel sprouts! Both are quite adventurous- no problem getting them to try frog legs or snails when we were travelling in Belgium when both under ten.

liver. DD loved it as a baby, i guess because it's soft.

My daughter loves black olives, cornichons and mustard! She will eat mustard sandwiches with just bread and mustard. She's 4 but this has been going on since she was 2.

She also loves artichokes.

It’s quite nice to read about kids being adventurous eaters, and getting a wider variety of food than we grew up with. Im of that generation that still considers olives to be posh

Cod in breadcrumbs (homemade)

Olives?!

Grilled artichokes in oil
Capers
Gherkins
Spinach
🤷🏼‍♀️