Have a Weird Eater? Try This

My son was born in Luxembourg, and from eight months to eighteen months he went to a French style crèche for day care. If you have ever spent time “on the continent,” you will be familiar with the French philosophy that all children, regardless of age, should eat everything. If they do not, it is the parent’s fault.

From one-year-old, the teachers at my son’s school would say things like, “He will not eat his Camembert,” or “He didn’t like the salmon and leeks.”

Every day as I carried him to the car, I felt the weight of bad stereotypes and parental guilt fall onto my shoulders. My husband and I were raising a bad eater but where did we go wrong? I had followed a book, had made all his baby food, had filled the freezer with purees and had done everything I was supposed to do. As my friends’ children showed interest in food, mine treated it like it was a punishment.

For the next year, his crèche continued to be amazed at how little he ate, and I continued to dread meal times.

We live in America now, and I wish I could say there was a magical change. There hasn’t been. He still isn’t a great eater but what I now know it is that has very little to do with me. He is the only kid I know who will eat half an ice cream or half a cookie. He just doesn’t eat that much–that’s his thing.

Over the next few months, I will share meals with you that are the byproduct of having a son who refused to eat normal kid-friendly food. He still won’t eat mac and cheese or hot dogs, but he will eat curried lentils (yep, curried lentils, give them a try!), and while I am sure his French teachers would still be appalled–I take a small amount of satisfaction in where we have ended up.

Q’s “They’re my favorite” Curried Lentils

• 2 tbsp or olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 1 tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 cup green French lentils (available at Target and Fresh Market)
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into small squares
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 400g can coconut milk
• ¼ small pack cilantro

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and pepper and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the spices and cook for one minute more, then stir in the lentils, sweet potatoes, and let heat, stirring continuously, for three minutes. Once everything is evenly heated, add the stock.

Bring to a boil, and cook uncovered on high. Once the liquid has reduced by half, add the coconut milk then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for twenty minutes until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.

Season, sprinkle with cilantro, if you like, and serve with rice and yogurt.

If your child, like mine, hates squishy texture, they will love this. The mild curry has a lot of nice flavor without being too spicy and the lentils have a firm texture that your weird eater might just love. The best part is that it’s adult food, so you don’t have to make two dinners.

Pro Tip – Eat it with them. If they see you enjoying the lentils they will as well.