Remember the good old days when dinner choices fluctuated between spaghetti hoops on toast or the luxurious, crispy breadcrumb embrace of a fish finger? If you are a parent today, it feels like your kids have experienced fine-dining meals since you've introduced them to solid food. Nowadays, the humble gastronomic pleasures of our childhood seem to have vanished, replaced by dishes that sound more at home at The Ritz than in a semi-detached house in Wimbledon.
Let's take a walk down memory lane. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, feeding a child was straightforward. Our parent's creativity might have peaked with the decision to cut the crusts off or slice the sandwich diagonally. School dinners were equally uncomplicated. Your average school dinner could have been a scoop of mash, some form of protein slathered in gravy, and peas that had seen better days.
Fast forward to now that we have kids, the lunchtime conversations are about whether the ciabatta or the panini makes a better-grilled cheese. Seriously, when did a sandwich get so pompous?
It is no trick of the mind; the food for children has become somewhat more sophisticated. It's quite nice, though confusing too, to watch little ones eat sushi with chopsticks or critique the flavour profile of artisanal cheese. But one has to wonder: why the shift?
Simply put, the world has shrunk, gastronomically speaking. Thanks to globalisation, you can now find so-called “exotic” foods in many places around the major cities around the UK. Social media has also played its part by bringing food from around the world to our kitchen tables, with people sharing dishes from every corner of the globe. As a result, parents are a lot more adventurous with what they feed their kids, possibly due to a bit of 'Insta-envy' mixed with good intentions of making their kids worldly eaters at the age of five.
If you believe that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, you'd be right. The exposure to diverse cuisines is fantastic. It means our kids are more adaptable and often more willing to try new things than we ever were. But, might something be missing when we move from simple to complex? Is there a crucial childhood experience that is overlooked when we go directly to fancy food and forget the happiness of eating beans with small sausages out of a can?
Another complication to resolve is that dinner time has become more than just consuming food; it now also involves learning. Each time we eat, it is a chance to learn about various cultures, the foods they use and how they prepare meals. It's educational, but I wonder when did feeding kids become a task that also requires a quick Google search on the side?
The Nostalgia of Simplicity!
Simplicity has a charm that cannot be held back. The '90s were maybe not the peak of cooking excellence, but their predictability gave comfort. Today's array of choices can be as overwhelming as they are liberating.
Talk to any millennial about the food from when they were small, and you'll listen to stories full of old memories - like spaghetti from a can on top of toasted bread, sticks made of fish served with mashed potatoes that come from powder, or the very treasured Wall's ice cream for rare occasions.
With all the sophisticated food options kids have today, it makes you wonder: are we robbing them of the joy found in simplicity? Maybe "adulting" starts too early in the kitchen now. There's something about discovering the world incrementally that feels natural, and organic. Today, it wouldn't surprise us if a toddler expressed a preference for stilton over cheddar, but perhaps it should.
Wrapping up this food for thought: so, has children's cuisine become a tad too posh? Possibly. Is it a bad thing? Not necessarily. Exposure to a variety of foods can be wonderful, but it's also okay if your kid's favourite meal is still a plain cheese pizza. After all, they're kids, and childhood's too short to skip the simple joys. Let's just not forget that sometimes, the essence of life (and a good meal) lies in its simplicity. Whether it's a grande cuisine dish or a humble grilled cheese, the goal is the same ᅳ to nourish, comfort, and occasionally (almost never), to delight.
Remember, whether it is a gourmet dish or not, each meal provides an opportunity to make memories at the dining table. So here's to all kinds of meals - messy, simple, sophisticated and even those that are incredibly fancy - which together form part of our children's food journey.
Remember, gourmet or not, every meal is a chance to create memories around the table. So here's to all kinds of meals - messy, simple and sophisticated - which together form part of our children's food journey.
Cheers, or should we say, "Bon Appétit"?
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