[Sca-cooks] P B & J

[Judith Epstein]

On Aug 24, 2009, at 1:46 PM, David Friedman wrote:

>> feed children like you feed adults, and they will develop a good  
>> palate and an attitude that they can try new things.
>
> That was our theory.
>
> We ended up with children some of whose standard favorites were 13th  
> century Islamic, but who were still very conservative with regard to  
> anything unfamiliar to them. Our daughter, at 19, is getting more  
> adventurous, but her brother, 16, is still very reluctant to eat at  
> any ethnic restaurant that isn't Chinese, Japanese, Italian, or  
> Persian, and not all that enthusiastic about restaurants in those  
> categories other than the ones he is used to.

I can't remember my opinion being asked, or my "no, I won't eat that"  
being tolerated. It was, and is, considered extremely rude (at least,  
where I grew up) to refuse to try something, unless it went against  
your health needs (allergies and that) or your religious restrictions.  
Rude, as in, "the eldest son wouldn't try the peas, and he's not  
allergic, so we won't be inviting anyone in that family over again."  
The theory being that if a child said no, it was because his parents  
hadn't taught him respectful behavior. It's probably just as well I  
don't have children, because I'm sure someone would assume I was an  
abusive mother if I said this while being in charge of a child. But  
when friends come over and someone says "No, thank you" to a dish I  
know they CAN eat, I can't help but think "How rude."

J