Teach a Kid…
Teach a kid to cook,
and they will learn to love to eat.
I summer in the mountains… sounds fancy, huh? It is magical in many ways, but I wouldn’t call it fancy. Rustic maybe, and full of goodness. The girls call me Chef Anna at a summer camp in North Carolina, where I get to spend a quarter of the year laughing hysterically and working hard at it. Little, adorable people are my favorite kinds of people, and I often find many gems in my time with them. There is dancing in my kitchen, yes. I’m sure you were going to ask. We actually reposition the prep tables at the beginning of the summer to make sure we’ll have plenty of room for that.
I have a point, but this is what I’m like… so I hope you’re never hoping to get there urgently.
These girls come in with many very real dietary restrictions, allergies, and intolerances. And also many PREFERENCES… I’m sure this would be better if you could hear the very loud buuuuhhhhh buuuhhhhhhh in my head, but I’m sure you can’t. You can’t. It’s fine.
I should tell you, I am really humbled to feed the kids with allergies and dietary restrictions. I’m grateful for my training and my OCD tendencies that allow them the opportunity not to fear their food while their adorable little stomachs are in my care. The gravity of this is not missed by me.
A preference is a little different though. I imagine these preferences exist for all these kids in their day to day life, which makes me think there must be so many families working unbelievably hard to feed their… I don’t know, let’s say two children. So, 2 children and 1 parent because I’m not offensive and let’s be real, there’s probably only one parent there right now even if they both live there.
So you have 3 people, probably 2 with personal preferences, which means you’re making not three meals a day but six. Right, 3 people and 3 meals should be still 3 meals. But since you’re customizing at least two of these humans’ plates, thus creating for them another meal entirely [although hopefully it’s at least close to the others, but let’s face it. It’s probably not. Honestly forget what I’ve said so far about feeding people good food. Who even cares about these ungrateful little bastards? Just give them the chicken fingers and forget about it. Hoooo… I really tickle myself. I’m kidding though. I really am. I’m also laughing though too. Sorry to insult your children, grown up who should not take this so personally. Your children are perfect.] I rant. I really do.
What is my point? Yes. So all these kids and their personal preferences come to camp, and they probably spend the whole year making sure that you abide by their rules [which is insane because back in the day, we didn’t have car seats OR personal preferences.] But they come, and don’t like vegetables, and only eat cereal and pb&j… and look, not all of them reform to the beauty of a life unboxed, but many of them do. Many of them eat the lasagna that has squash, zucchini, and yes, even onions in it. Many of them eat soups that have beans, and roasted vegetables, and gyros [that’s right tabbouleh, tzatziki, olives, and so many other things that kids “don’t like.”] I even make curry every other week, and they love it. I mean, they call it rice and orange gravy because how much can I really be responsible for here. But they do love it, and they do eat it.
So, I think my suggestion is to see if you can make less meals in a day… maybe just three. I am sure that you deserve it. You do a lot, and you’re very important, and the work you do matters. I’m afraid I don’t know much about how to do this in your home, I’m sure it’s going to have to be designed specifically to your people, and I don’t know your people.
Okay, I’m so glad we were able to do this today. Thanks for being here.
Oh wait, I remember! Teach a kid to cook and they will learn to love to eat. I am sure that this is true, although I have no children, and would never try it with 200 little girls. You try it though! Let me know how it goes.
I told you I was going to rant.
Thanks and love.
Oh! You want to hear something that we dance to in the kitchen? Of course. Here’s a favorite from a favorite!
