“In The US, It’s Macaroni And Pizza”: American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts)

Some kids snack on carrots, raw peppers, and hummus, while other little connoisseurs would rather grab some pasta, rice, or bread. Why is that? Turns out, there are plenty of reasons.

A review of dozens of studies that date back to the 1990s which looked at kids' eating patterns found that fussy and picky habits were linked to and affected by everything from personality traits to parental control at mealtime and social influences. Or it could just be a kid being a kid.

To learn how different cultures lure choosy children into consuming calories, Reddit user u/Buugybuug asked people: "What recipes do picky eaters all over the world use?" And their question was heard. Here are some of the answers it has received!

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"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) When I was a kid (in Canada) I loved grill cheese and tomato soup !! And I still do actually lol

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Ciara Attwell, founder of the family food blog My Fussy Eater and mom-of-two, has been covering this tricky topic extensively since 2014.

"First of all, I think it's important for parents to know that fussy eating is extremely common," the author of 'We're Hungry!' told Bored Panda. "Parents will often blame themselves but so many children go through picky phases at different times. Don't feel bad or guilty about it at all. There's lots that you can do to help your child going forward."

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) As a Jew lemme tell you about latkes. Basically a potato pancake. My kid loves to dip them in applesauce in the morning, ketchup at night. They’re versatile, filling, easy to make, you hold them in your hand...Perfect kid food.

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"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) My Irish dad used to always make me potato cakes out of leftover mash potatoes and some flour. He then fries them and we’d have them with eggs and bacon. Not the healthiest but I used to really love it

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You can start by introducing only one new food at a time. "We don't want to overwhelm the child and potentially increase any fear or anxiety they have around new foods. For moderate fussy eaters, I would recommend introducing one new food every 3 days and for more severe fussy eaters maybe even one a week," Attwell explained.

"Also, don't overwhelm the child with a whole plate of the new food. Add just a small amount to their plate alongside lots of foods that they know and love. I call this the 80/20 Rule — 80% safe foods and 20% new foods."

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I'm for India and the only thing I've persistently loved since childhood is Rajma Chawal. It's basically black kidney beans and rice. Try looking for an authentic recipe online. You can adjust the seasoning but oh god it's lip smacking. Another thing was amritsari kulcha. A weird way to describe it would be saying it's similar to stuffed naan. But waayyyy better. We eat it with chhole (chick peas) you should try that too!

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"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Mexican, and my favorite lazy food is migas. Get five tortillas per person, cut them in half and then slice them into strips, fry them, and pour two to three beaten eggs on top. Let that cook for a minute or two, just enough for the egg to slightly set, and then stir it around a bit so it's not one giant mass. Serve and top with sour cream and salsa Valentina.

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Keep in mind that this journey is a marathon, not a sprint. "With very fussy kids, your goal when first introducing a child to a new food isn't to get them to eat it, it's to get them to accept that food on their plate," Attwell highlighted. "If they remove it the first couple of times, that's ok. It's all part of the process."

"Once the child has accepted the food on their plate, then it's time to get them to interact with it. That's touching it, smelling it... Everything except for asking them to taste it. Let them build up to this in their own time. Patience is key!"

When they look like they're ready to make the leap, Attwell suggests asking them to try what she calls TTT — teeny tiny tastes. "Let them know that it's ok if they don't like it," she said. "After one bite, they can put the food down and leave it there. Once they have tried it but told you that they don't want to try anymore, don't force them to try it again. It's important that you gain their trust and they know that they are not being forced into it."

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Salvadorean here, my kids will never turn down fried plantains and refried beans. Fast, simple and so tasty! It was my favorite growing up too!

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"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) From Korea, I highly recommend gimbap! It looks similar to a Japanese sushi roll but no raw fish. Typically what goes in is rice, seasoned and sautéed veggies, fried egg, and meat of your choice. Lately, there has been a lot of American influence so I’ve also seen fusion gimbap like “hamburger gimbap” or ham and cheese. This may not be an everyday meal since it is work prepping all the ingredients you want to include, but it’s way easier than it looks! You don’t even need the sushi rolling mat. It’s also fun to get the kids involved asking them what foods they want to include and help constructing and rolling them up :) kind of like pizza night- just with gimbap. It’s also a fun, easy, and delicious way to add more veggies into their diet.

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The actual food aside, there are other ways in which you can try to ease your kid into exploring their taste buds. Like consistent mealtime schedules. "Choose a time of the day or even day of the week when kids are alert and relaxed and not tired," Attwell said.

"Evening time is probably the worst time for most children, especially when they are young. They are too tired by 5 PM to start trying new foods so choose a time earlier in the day when they are more likely to engage with the process. Weekends are also great to get children to try new foods. They will be less tired and more open to exploring new tastes and textures."

Even though you control what, where, and when food is provided, remember, it is your child that ultimately decides whether or not to eat it and how much to eat.

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Finland.
Meatballs with gravy and smashed potatoes. You can think Ikea meatballs but home made from better ingredients. Salmon and potatoes. Pasta bolognese. Fish sticks. Strawberries and other berries. Porridge with milk or berrysoup. Usually kids eat what they parents eat but in the school lunch or kinder garten lunch or at your grandmas the former meals are beloved.

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"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Omurice! (ketchup fried rice wrapped in egg omelet) Classic Japanese "kids meal" item

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#10

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Uk kids food is pretty similar to US kids food, but one thing I was, and am still obsessed with, is gravy on everything. I was a super picky eater as a child, but always loved a roast dinner (British Sunday classic!) smothered in gravy

Also anything on toast is pretty popular kid food in the UK - baked beans on toast, cheese on toast, mushrooms on toast

And a final favourite from a former picky eater- baked potatoes, aka jacket potatoes! I recently revived this dish as an adult and made them topped with roasted broccoli and cheese, yum

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#11

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Another Norwegian here. Basically all kids like liver paté. Another surprising thing kids tend to like here is caviar. Not like the Russian kind, but this smoked cod roe product that we have here.

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#12

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Belgian here. Our kids love stoofvlees, which is essentially a meat and beer stew. They eat it with french fries and apple sauce.

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#13

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) When I lived in Ecuador as a kid pretty much all I ate was salchipapas. It’s French fries with cut up hot dogs in it. Soooo good

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#14

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Egypt: a dish called Chicken Pané, a filet of chicken breast breaded and fried.

To trick your kids into eating veggies, you'd make them Zucchini Béchamel: imagine a lasagna but substitute the lasagna sheets for grilled long slices of zucchini. Tastes delicious actually, I loved it as a kid.

Potato meatballs, mashed potatoes with herb butter mixed with cooked minced meat. This concoction is then formed into a flattened ball (oval?) breaded and fried.

As a desert, Om Ali, torn up pieces of puff pastry or bread soaked in sweet hot milk, shredded coconut, crushed nuts & baked with a layer of sweet whipped cream on top. Not the healthiest but children and adults love it.

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#15

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) In Argentina as a kid I would always eat milanesas with mashed potatoes. It's breaded thin meat (can be made with beef or chicken) and you either shallow fry it or bake it. I think most kids love milanesas, and if you bake them it can be a healthy meal. Spaghetti with tomato sauce was another frequent meal.

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#16

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) American, but I had Polish inlaws feeding my kiddo. She ate a lot of soft/fatty sausages, perogies, potatos babka, and SOUPS.

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#17

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) In Korea, kids usually eat kimchi fried rice, kimchi soup with rice and spicy stir-fried Korean rice cake(tteokbokki).

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#18

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I’m in Australia - favourites in our house are lasagne (with hidden veg!), spaghetti bolognese, tacos, sushi rolls with tuna & avocado, shepherds pie, tuna pasta bake. My daughter also likes the Jamie Oliver hidden veg pizza sauce, I use it for pizza (obvs) but also pasta or anything that needs a tomato based sauce to boost the veg. I’m all about hiding the veg! I hide a head of cauliflower in Mac and cheese.

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#19

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I am in USA but we are from India. My 3 year old eats - rice, daal, chicken kebabs, Indian veggie and meat dishes, parathas and rotis, chilla, dosa, Indian yogurt, (unflavoured) payesh (rice and milk dessert) fish coated with rava and baked/fried, baked fish, baked veggies. All these are cooked from scratch. Khinchdi is very easy and often made. He has boiled eggs, egg curries. He eats everything we eat like normal rice, curries but homemade curries are actually not spicy and quite healthy nothing like the restaurant curry.

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#20

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) In Israel, ptitim (Israeli couscous) is usually seen as a classic kids food. It's said kids are grown up when they start to prefer tahina over ketchup with their food.

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#21

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Mostly corn porridge or 'mieliepap' in South Africa. With milk, meat or just so. Anytime of the day.

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#22

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I’m French, and I was sooo picky when I was a kid. I didn’t like any kind of cheese which was hard growing up in France ! I remember eating a lot of pasta with tomato sauce, rice, mashed potatoes, chicken, ham and fish sticks. My mom made us lots of soup in the winter too (I only liked it if it was a certain color though, no matter what was in it). The typical French dishes that I ate a lot were croque monsieur (two slices of bread with ham and cheese in it, but my mom made it without cheese for me lol), gratin dauphinois (sliced potatoes with lots of cream in it and oven baked), quiche lorraine (a kind of pie with lardons in it), quenelles (don’t really know how to explain this one but look it up it’s delicious), hachis parmentier (shepherds pie but without the vegetable), crepes, duck confit, ratatouille... I’m pretty sure I ate all of these even if I was very picky so these can be trusted ! I ate a ton of sweet stuff too like cakes and desserts because my mom is a great baker.

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#23

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Norway, daughter (4) has a glass of full milk in the morning, then 3 slices of bread with liverpâté and two small boxes of cucumber and bell peppers for the kindergarten (they don't cook anymore during covid). Sometimes cubes of cheese, some fruit or a yogurt.

For dinner she doesn't eat much, but she likes garlic bread, plain pasta/rice, loves broccoli and corn. We have chicken 3+ times a week that she likes, but wants all ingredients separate/deconstructed dishes.

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#24

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) German here - Cucumber with Maggi, Spätzle baked with cheese, Schnitzel, Potato salad, mashed potato, fish sticks, fried noodle with eggs, baked noodle with egg, ham and tomato sauce and of course Vesper, so basically a good sourdough bread with sausage, cheese and raw veggies

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#25

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) From Quebec, we have "pâté chinois" (we do have a lot of "Chinese" thing") that is also popular with kids. It's a layer of ground beef, under a layer of corn, under a layer of mashed potatoes. You can hide other veggies in the potatoes if you want it healthier...

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#26

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) China. My niece (2 years old) usually eat noodles with egg soup. The most common meals on China family table is “fried meals”, “fried in Chinese way”, aka “炒”. So kids eat 炒food with rice or Mantou(Chinese bread). Sometimes we just have dumplings.

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#27

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Molasses pancakes - goes well with gingerbread seasonings added - you can use whole wheat flour for these since the molasses has a strong enough flavor to "cover" the whole wheat. You can use the apple butter in place of maple or other syrup as the topping too. I grew up in semi-rural Appalachia (Virginia) which was my dad's hometown, and of course have a fondness for regional comfort food.

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#28

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Arroz con huevo frito. Cuban comfort dish - just white rice, fried egg on top, good squirt of ketchup on all of it. It's what I make when I don't really feel like cooking but I'm willing to wait 20 minutes for rice.

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#29

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Here in Spain my two top picks would be, 'Arroz a la cubana' and 'croquetas'.

The first is simply white rice with tomato sauce and a fried egg sunny side up. With a side of a half of a pan fried (in oil) banana, if you are feeling fancy.

The second one is a leftover wonder: take any leftover meat and mix it with a béchamel until it gets thick, make a "football" shape, batter it and leave it in the fridge/freezer. When you want to eat them, fry them in very hot oil for 3-5min (olive oil is better, but it's not compulsory). Remove from the oil when its golden brown all around. They are great and I've never met a kid that didn't love them. Vegetable options are great, but meat ones are a must.

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#30

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) We're in Romania, and my kids eat what we eat, are not fussy, but when they were little, I had some go-to recipes such as omelette (simple, or with mushrooms, bacon, cheese etc.) with fresh tomatoes/cucumber/pepper, marinated meatballs, chicken in tomato sauce & potato puree, sauteed mushrooms, chicken rice, lentil soup, baked potato wedges & ketchup, carrot muffins. Our house rule is to always eat protein, vegetables, and fruit every day. If your kids don't like cooked vegetables - no problem, they can eat fresh carrots and cucumbers and peppers as a snack.

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#31

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Pork Tocino (a type of cured meat with a sweet savory flavor) with eggs and fried rice are a breakfast staple in the Philippines. We call it tosilog (tocino, sinangag which is Filipino for fried rice, and itlog which means egg).

Silog meals are highly popular in the Philippines in general. You can substitute the tocino for hotdogs (hotsilog), beef tapa (another type of cured meat), or boneless bangus (a fish that's delicious but contains a ton of fish bones). Any type of fried protein, really.

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#32

Central Europe here. I would say that here it's schnitzel with fries or potato mash (everything potato based should be good!). You can also make schnitzel/strips and even the fries in the oven as a healthier variation :) Another dishes are pasta with tomato sauce and cheese, chicken soup with noodles, crepes with ham and cheese, fried cheese with potatoes.

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#33

I don't know how it is nowadays, but when I was a kid, every kid ate krentenbollen (currant buns) here in the Netherlands. A (peanut) butter/chocolate (either spread or sprinkles) sandwich was also very common.

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#34

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I'm in South Africa but I give my 3 year old meals from a variety of cuisines. Mild chickpea, Butterbean or cauliflower curries with coconut milk. Chilli con carne, spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken breast or crumbed fish with salad. She basically just eats what we eat, which makes life a lot easier haha

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#35

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) My wife's family is viet/chinese. They feed babies "jook" or "cook" (depending on who you ask).

It's a rice slurry with tiny bits of meat and veg in it. At first it's very thin and all the bits are so tiny it has no texture whatsoever (blended). Eventually the chunks get bigger, the jook gets thicker and the kids have to chew it. It's a very adaptable dish that has everything you need in it. Right now it has carrots, chicken, barley, buckwheat, rice, broccoli, garlic and chicken marrow. My MIL also juices several green vegetables and adds that. She keeps adjusting it as our daughter gets older and as long as we feed her that, I have no worries about the rest of her diet.

I usually pound down the leftovers instead of taking vitamins.

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#36

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I grew up in Vietnam and as soon as I could chew properly, I just ate all the same food as the adults in my family. Congee is a popular food for Viet kids but adults eat congee too, so there's really no concept of "kids' food" except for liquid baby food.

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#37

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Maqloube, think of a casserole, with lamb or beef, plenty of vegetables but notably, cauliflower and/or eggplant with rice, served upside-down. I'm Arab and spent a lot of time growing up in Lebanon.

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#38

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) I grew up in America but with immigrant parents and I generally ate what my parents ate minus some of the more spicy stuff:

White rice mixed with egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Fried rice with lots of colorful veggies. Omurice (basically fried rice with ketchup and covered with a thin omelette). Kimbap, which is like a sushi roll but no raw fish, just seasoned veggies and meat. Ssam, which is grilled meat with maybe a spoonful of rice and sauce, all wrapped up in lettuce. Miso soup and other mild, brothy soups. Small bits of grilled fish with rice. Salad and other raw veggies like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes. Curry rice, like someone else mentioned. Lots of cut up fruit. Dumplings/potstickers. Kimchi rinsed in water so it’s not spicy but still has the fermented probiotics.

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#39

My daughter loves Loco Moco (Hawaiian comfort food) bowl

The basics: Hamburger patty over white rice with gravy on top of the hamburger patty when an easy fried egg on top.

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#40

Dane here. Spicy meatballs with boiled potatoes, cauliflower purée, and roasted fresh green bean/ roasted beets topped with balsamic vinegar (thick glaze if you can find it).

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#41

Here in Belgium, two dishes I can think about are meatballs in a tomato sauce, and also some kind of chicken stew, called vol-au-vent.

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#42

American, but my grandma would make “cowboy chicken” basically cook a chicken breast in a pan and deglaze with apple juice. It was two things a kid could wrap their head around and I loved it.

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#43

Los Angeles born, moved to Amsterdam, so naturally he likes poffertjes (mini pancakes).

He won't eat french fries, only eats ketchup with his finger, so we outlawed that, no chicken nuggets of any kind (or shape).

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#44

In Honduras, it was usually tortillas, beans, eggs, and cheese even quesadillas or bean soup.

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#45

In the Netherlands, kids just eat what their parents eat, in smaller portions. Made possible by the fact that strong seasonings are virtually non-existent in our cuisine. E. g. Hutspot, a mashed potato dish with vegetables like carrots and onions in it, served with smooth smoked sausage (rookworst)

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#46

"In The US, It's Macaroni And Pizza": American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts) Grew up in the US but in an Armenian household. Every once in a while we got McDonald’s but that was rare. Armenian kids tend to gravitate towards carbs and meats. Things like rice and potatoes or kebabs or the meat picked out of whatever dish mom made (like eating the meat from dolma but not the grape leaves or veggies it was stuffed in). Also soups. Chicken soup, meatball soup with a tomato base etc. soup was the way to get veggies in. Ketchup seems to be huge. My cousins kids alll drown their food in ketchup.

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#47

Norway here.Komler, a kind of boiled potatoball with butter, bacon, lamb meat and kohlrabi puree.

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#48

Canadian kid (I’m in high school) with Italian-Scottish grandparents. They basically raised my until I was 5 so I ate a lot of pasta, stracatella? soup, beef sausage, chicken parmigiana and pastina soup. Also had lots of fresh bread, homemade tomato sauce, homemade pizza. My Scottish grandmother made mincemeat pies, chicken pot pie, Shepard’s pie, beef stew with dumplings, along with various pastries and apple pie.

Also had stuff like Kraft Dinner quite often, hot dogs and hamburgers, peameal bacon for breakfast.

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#49

Bulgarian here, we eat a phyllo and cheese dish similar to greek spanakopita without the spinach with a side of non sweetened yogurt, kids also eat it for breakfast and snacks. In general we don’t really have “childish” foods other than pre-packaged snack food, but eggs are usually served to kids bc of how quickly they can be ready. Rice cooked with our “sour” (I think fermented) cabbage, tomato and cucumber salad, bread with butter and summer savory, bread with a red pepper spread, and sandwiches with cheese and tomato and mayo would all be common things you’d serve to children as well

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#50

In Romania I remember eating lots of schintzels, puree, fried potatoes, baked chicken in the oven, hotdogs, nuggets and mcdonalds

zippopwnage Report

Final score:

9points

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#51

Potato waffles tend to go down well in Ireland!

banthane Report

Final score:

9points

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#52

In Jamaica I ate a lot of patties (meat filled pastry), mackerel in tomato sauce with rice, and canned corned beef cooked in a pan with tomato sauce on rice, or mixed with mayo on hard dough bread. Rice and peas. Loooots of fresh fruit. Bag juice, milk, and champagne cola.

saltporksuit Report

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8points

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#53

Hungary: various "főzelék" type foods. A főzelék is similar to the French potage: a vegetable soup thickened with flour and tejföl (somewhere between sour cream and creme fraiche). Usually made with legumes or tubers. Squash is a popular ingredient too, but children tend to dislike it. Can be eaten without toppings but it's more frequently topped with fried eggs, hot dogs, or some meat stew.

gerusz Report

Final score:

8points

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#54

As a former fuzzy eater from Sweden the one meal from my childhood that's ingrained into my brain is meatballs & pasta with ketchup, to this day it's my secret favourite comfort meal!

Other than that these were some of the classics served both at school and at home:

Swedish blood pudding (different from the classic British one)

Pyttipanna (literal translation: Things in a pan, mix of ham, potatoes, and onions cut into very very small cubes)

Potato cakes basically like hashbrowns

Soft or hard bread with Swedish kaviar (comes on a tube) and cucumber/cheese/ham

Blueberry or Raspberry soup

Spacebarkss Report

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8points

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#55

Gf is Serbian and I'm latino, so our 2 year old girl gets burek, stir frys, lots of stews and soups, pancakes and eggs for breakfast as she loves those, and the typical pastas, pizza every now and then, oven baked fish and chicken fingers

eshenanigans Report

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8points

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#56

I'm from Northern Italy so I make a lot of risotto, my daughter loves those too. She'll eat any veg if it's in a risotto. She loves it with fennel, or zucchini, or celery root, or peas. I occasionally also make it with pear and blue cheese - so good.

charliebobo82 Report

Final score:

7points

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#57

Singapore Chinese.

Bread/cereals for breakfast. Lunch and dinners are typically a carb (rice or noodles), veggies and protein.

Noodles could be stir-fried, or eaten with a braised meat gravy. My son also loves fishball soup (anchovy soup stock, noodles, fishballs and cabbage).

We do steamed white rice or mixed grains. Stir fry veg, steamed fish or braised meat. My son loves soup but our soups are usually like a stock (clear soups) in american equivalent. For example, his favourite soup is abc soup (carrot, onion, corn, pork ribs or chicken bones boiled over the stove for 2-3hours). Super easy and full of nutrients.

bloomingfarts Report

Final score:

7points

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#58

In Costa Rica we do a lot of combinations of legumes with protein. I personally like to use the slow cooker and leave it overnight with one protein (pork, beef or chicken) and one legume (lentils, white beans, chickpeas) and a little seasoning (salt, pepper, maybe a bay leaf, paprika for color). The meat will be tender and the legumes will absorb its flavor. If your kids don't like soups as it's common, then use less water and you'll end up having a saucy dish instead. You can even add diced tomato and oregano if you like.

janc_z Report

Final score:

7points

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#59

We are from hispanic background but are accustomed to eating food from different cultures. My picky eaters will never turn down refried pinto beans, Mexican red rice, with quesadillas.

MapacheMadrid Report

Final score:

5points

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#60

From Quebec, my parents used to make "chinese macaroni" (macaroni with dark soy sauce and pieces of pork or chicken), bologna, ground beef with brown sauce and onions, lots of ham sandwiches

Jellyka Report

Final score:

3points

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What do you think ?

Aliquid 3 years ago

So many people are not understanding this question. The responses are missing the point. It is not a question of "what food do YOU like" or "what did YOU like as a kid". This is a question about fussy eaters in different cultures.... and maybe 10% of the responses actually get that.

25points

Vicky Z 3 years ago

Yes that was very annoying! The whole post makes no sense! I was not a picky kid but i do know what kids like in my country! So why would i say what i was eating? That was not the question

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marianne eliza 3 years ago

Agree.

Kori Chamberlain 3 years ago

Right? Ribs were one of my favorite foods as a kid. Not an easy kid food in the slightest.

2points

Lance d'Boyle 3 years ago

It's funny because in many of these dishes people talk about the 'trick' to getting kids to eat veggies. There is no trick: kids will eat veggies. The problem is that they are very good at picking up cues that tell them not to like veggies -- eg, 'if you eat your veggies you can have a pudding' or 'veggies first then you can have more potatoes". Kids understand the exchange rate when put to them like that (veggies bad, pudding good). We never talked about veg in a pejorative way and never had a problem getting them to eat them. If you make a big deal about eating veggies don't be surprised if it becomes a big deal for your kids.

Burs 3 years ago

While some kids are naturally picky I agree that a lot of the problems are cultural. Look at the very different dishes shown here, my sister (Spanish) wouldn’t have eaten most of them as a kid but they are “easy food” in their countries. I always wondered if we should forbid to add in cartoons references to hating vegetables, I am sure that it’s a big reason for kids to dislike them. Like I heard so many times that broccoli was bad that when I tried the first time I was so surprised that it tasted good.

1point

classbag 3 years ago (edited)

Lol no. Disliking veggies came way before I ever tried to bribe my child to eat them or started putting them with other foods she likes more/seasoning them a little more heavily. Veggies often have a bland or bitter flavor. It's not conditioning that makes kids not want to eat foods that aren't as delicious. It's having tastebuds.

Ileana Sky Aviles 3 years ago

I ate all kinds of vegetables and love them because my parents raised me to love them. They started me as a vegan but even when I've had meat, I still prefer vegetables. The asian way of cooking vegetables help too with flavors.

0points

ChickyChicky 3 years ago

Yeah sorry, you're wrong. Your kids did one thing, that's great for you and your kids. But not all kids are like that.

Miss Frankfurter 3 years ago

When I was a kid I ate whatever my parents ate except smaller portions. No such thing as my Mom/Dad making a different dinner because I wouldn't eat what was put in front of me. Both parents were kids during the Depression when for many people food was a precious. Dont waste it. They were lucky to have something on their plates. You eat what's in front of you.

I agree. With exception of rare things like spicy food I would cook the same for my kids if I had them than for us. It’s already bad living with an adult man who refuses to eat a lot of things (beans, soup, lentils, chickpeas, soy sauce, most fishes…) I wouldn’t want to create more annoying picky eaters

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“In The US, It’s Macaroni And Pizza”: American Asks What Little Picky-Eaters Around The World Eat (30 Posts)

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