Educating children at the table

It often seems impossible for parents to delight children with the food they offer. There is no child however, that can resist to a plate of Penne Rigate pasta with tomato sauce and basil or cheese. While these solutions are infallible, and facilitate daily life, should be offered to the children a variety of foods daily and also creative dishes, in order to be “educated” the palate to new flavours.

Nutritional variety and nutrients

When pasta is served as a first dish, it is advisable to choose smaller pasta. Long noodles, like spaghetti, are not the most appropriate for young children who have not yet learned to handle fork easily.

The children usually like sauces with tomatoes and tuna. You can also serve pasta with a little tuna and sage, a simple dish that has many chances to like children.
As a main course, it would be a distraction from the traditional choice of “a piece of meat”. You can choose from a wide variety of meat existing in the market, from chicken to pork tenderloin and veal steak, offering ever in your little “guests” new and different tastes so they do not get bored of the same foods. A simple and effective solution would be to add the classic Scaloppini a small lemon or vinegar.

Another typical cliché is that the fish does not like to the children. Do not limit yourself to fish with white meat. Instead of the usual language and haddock, try to learn children to eat more fish such as perch (which should be cut into thin slices and remove all the bones) or a bass that you can just fry with a little oil, with a sprig of rosemary and a clove of garlic (which you will remove from the food before serving).