My Child, the Food Snob

Let me paint two pictures for you. The first is our supper last night. Isis' plate is sitting on the kitchen table waiting for her. It has been a very, very long day with no nap. Mommy has been sick all weekend. And as truly awesome as Daddy is at doing all of Mommy's usual things, to a three year old it is just not the same. On days such as these, we know not to push her by dinner time. She is toast already. So for her supper we give her a grilled cheese sandwich, potato straws, and one strawberry. One.

Isis comes to the table and screams. Screams. She is informing us, rather loudly, that she does not want that one berry on her plate. She insists she doesn't like them. She begs us to take it off. She tells us she will throw it in the trash. Daddy tells her to go to her room and not to reappear until she can be nice.

Ten minutes later she appears. She is smirking. We tell her how nice it is to have her at the table. She eats her potatoes and sandwich. The berry lingers. I know we can be wicked, wicked parents at times. But I hardly call a fresh picked garden strawberry torture. She inquires about dessert. We tell her she must eat the berry.

Picture number two...It is the next day. We have just finished our lunch. Our neighbor has called and invited Isis to come pick a few strawberries. She runs to get her sunhat. She scrambles for her flipflops. She's probably even singing at this point.

We arrive at the garden and talk about which berries to pick. She finds them and eats them. She tells me we are in Mr. McGregor's garden and not to get caught in the gooseberry net. I think she is the cutest child ever. She picks more. She feeds a few to the dog. Her chin is red. I tell her to pick five more and then we must go. She quickly agrees then informs me that we really don't need to count...it's okay to just pick them and eat them. I tell her five. She is almost in tears because she just wants to keep eating these berries.

Now you may wonder why she feels so differently about the berries on her supper plate and the berries in the patch. Why the tantrum not to eat the berry and then the resistance to leave the garden? In both situtaions, the berries came from the exact same place.

It is because my child...is a food snob. She only eats fresh vegetables and some fruits if picked directly. from. the. garden. She's a little hippified in that way and it's absolutely wonderful to know she has preferences for eating peppers with dirty barefeet in the garden while wearing patchouli. But give her a pepper from the store and she will not touch it. Pick a pepper from our garden, carry it into the house, put it on her dinner plate, and she will not touch it. Put her directly in front of the plant and she will eat them until you make her stop.

I am not complaining. I think it is wonderful that she truly prefers the freshest, most organic vegetables possible. The problem is that she absolutely, will not eat them other months of the year.

So our solution to the problem goes like this...plant as many pepper plants as possible. Plant a half row of peas. Plant some green beans. Let her eat the sour cherries naked because she's eating a cherry. And close to supper time, release her into the garden. Let her graze. Let her pick and chew and throw and laugh and drool and dig and eat because this is supper tonight and every night for the next three months.