Spicing Things Up
LeaAnn wonders how you have dealt with introducing spice to your kid's diet. She queries:
My husband and I are long-time lovers (times infinity) of hot, spicy foods; a lot of my home cooking runs in the Indian or Thai vein. I was fortunate enough to have avoided heartburn during my pregnancy, i.e., I continued to enjoy the spicy stuff during that time. So my daughter got frequent doses of it in utero. And once she was here, I was again fortunate: As a nurser, she's seemingly had no adverse reaction to what I've been "inputting," so I've never really had to alter my diet.
I've gotten conflicting advice about when to introduce her directly to the spicy stuff. All the books - yes, those darn books again - say bland is best for some time. On the other hand, I have Thai relatives (by marriage) who, during their visit here last fall, when my daughter wasn't quite a year old, couldn't believe that I was dumbing the food down for her. They were insistent that I let her eat my spicy portions, right now, because that's how their own families did it. (I have to admit that when I've been to Thailand, pre-baby, I never paid any attention to what the little ones were eating, but I've no reason to disbelieve my relatives ) Anyway, for better or worse I pretty much chickened out & decided to keep on w/ the bland stuff. Flash-forward: Now my daughter is 14 months old and, quite appropriately, wants everything I'm eating, and (unlike previously) won't take "no" or a distraction for an answer. I finally gave her some very mildly chile-flavored stuff the other night, w/ predictable results: After a second or two, it burned her little tongue or her little throat, she became, er, fiercely dismayed (can't quite describe her reaction); I had the milk handy, which helped. Next day, same food (leftovers), same demand, same capitulation, same reaction.
I was just wondering if at this point there is any way to gently ease her down the cayenne-lined path, or if I should just stop making spicy meals at home & hide the hot sauce, or what have you. Wondering also how other heat lovers introduced their kids to spicy food. And please don't call CPS on me for this!
I wouldn't call the food we eat hot, per se, but we have some kind of curry - Indian or Thai, every week, and our son loves it. Last summer, when he couldn't cope with sandwiches, we fed him Trader's frozen green curry and so forth, and he loved them. The only problem was TJs isn't so big into the QC, and some packages were incendiary and some were very mild. Milk to the rescue whenever he got a really spicy bite.
I'd say one approach is to make things SLIGHTLY less spicy, or make more than one dish - one spicy, one mild, and then offer plenty of rice. Or, if you're eating Indian food, offer a little plain yogurt or raita to cool things down. That's the approach we take with our son and he's a real fan of spicy food. He crams the salsa fresca at Cha Cha Cha taqueria into his mouth with both hands. It's great to see. His diapers, on the other hand...not so great. :)
Posted by: Betsy | February 06, 2007 at 09:17 AM
Your capacity to handle the hot stuff is built up. If you use pepper cream as an analgesic, for example, you'll need to use more and more over time because your body builds up to it. I suspect that you can start with small doses and work your way up to adult levels. Why not ask the folks at kimchi mamas or turbanhead?
Posted by: ephelba | February 06, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Rats- I didn't realize html isn't supported.
http://kimchimamas.typepad.com/kimchi_mamas/
http://www.turbanhead.com/weblog/about/
Posted by: ephelba | February 06, 2007 at 10:33 AM
I too spiced it up during pregnancy & nursing, and find that my toddlers now tend to favor well-seasoned over bland. For the most part, I share what I'm eating and figure that the kids will either enjoy it or insist on something else, in which case they can have something else. Betsy's advice strikes me as very sound. (If your daughter will eat cucumber slices, those are also a good antidote to any overly strong bites.)
On a tangential note, this reminds me of my favorite Mexican expression: "Me enchilé." It sounds lame in English -- I chilified myself? -- but in Spanish it perfectly conveys that fierce dismay you describe, of biting into more spice than you bargained for.
Posted by: Tia | February 06, 2007 at 10:34 AM
Truman sounds very much like your daughter -- lots of spicy food in utero and through breast milk, but decided it was THBBBTTT! when I offered it to him out of my bowl (probably a bit younger than 12 months, I'm not sure). I've stopped spicing dishes I know he'll try so heavily, and then I add chili oil (Trader Joe's has a new product that's great) or more spice to a portion of the food that's just for adults. When either of the kids starts crying over too-spicy food, I just treat it matter-of-factly and offer milk. It usually works and they continue to eat with generous helpings of that spice-calming dairy.
It's worth mentioning that my four-year-old has a far less adventurous palate and is even more sensitive, so is only now venturing to eat more of my food -- so I never had to worry about sharing our spice until Truman started eating solids.
I continue to add spice to dishes, I just make sure and add it early in the cooking process (usually, I saute in the spice with the oil & onions, garlic, carrots -- diced up carrots in spaghetti, chili, hamburger macaroni is the only way my kids eat much veggies -- before adding the meat or other ingredients) and keep it just on the south side of medium.
Garlic doesn't seem to be a problem, though, even in pesto, although it can be quite strong. I wonder how other children react to plentiful amounts of garlic? I've heard that babies love garlic in breast milk, but my kids never turned up their nose at ANY breast milk, so it's hard to know...
Posted by: sarah gilbert | February 06, 2007 at 03:35 PM
FWIW, my 3-year-old is a huge fan of salads made with Brianna's super-garlicky Asiago Caesar dressing. (Although he just calls it "ranch.")
Posted by: Tia | February 06, 2007 at 04:54 PM
I had this issue when my daughter was about 9 months. I ended up slowly mixing in spice to every meal. She is now (at 19 months) a huge fan of all things spicy. I say you just you start her down the path slowly and she will get there. The fact that she asked for the same food on the 2nd day is a great sign she is willing to get there with you. Good luck!
Posted by: Emily | February 07, 2007 at 01:09 PM
I am personally a huge fan of starting off your infant with your regular food. We tried giving our baby rice cereal mixed with breast milk and he hated it. I ended up having to throw away the entire box of it because he woudn't eat it. I thought he wasn't ready for solids. But then a couple of days later, he couldn't get enough of the spiced, super garlicky spinach that we made, so that turned into his first real meal of solids. He is 10 months old now and eats EVERYTHING we eat, including all the spicy stuff (except for honey, egg whites, peanuts--those allergy foods). I can't tell you how much I just love watching him down my curry, my cilantro pesto, etc. It is just so satisfying.
Thank goodness for baby food mills. That's the best baby product we have pruchased yet.
Posted by: Amy | February 07, 2007 at 09:15 PM
Our son ate just about any and everything until he was 14 months, and then he demanded the all beige or all cheese diet...
One thing to think about is your reaction to the kid popping the spicy thing in her mouth. If you're staring or holding your breath, she's going to know that you're expecting some sort of reaction that, say, macaroni and cheese wouldn't merit.
When my son recently got a hot mouthful of salsa at a restaurant, in the two seconds I had before his "Me enchilé" (great phrase!) moment turned into yelling, I said "Isn't the salsa yummy?" The waiter walked by just then, as well, and said "we have really good salsa, don't we?"
The kid still lunged for his milk, but the look on his face as he processed the difference between what he was thinking and what the grown-ups were telling him his reaction should be was very funny.
Posted by: Arlington, Va. | February 11, 2007 at 01:04 PM