Eleanor is 9, so sometimes, she’s a super interesting tiny human. (She hates when I call her a tiny human, and in fairness, she is taller than every other kid in her grade and probably the grade above her.) However, kids at this age, while wildly frustrating at times, are also still in that most interesting phase where they are still developing their own ideas and opinions. This starts about the time they start school and start being exposed to new opinions and customs and such that are different from what they know from their family. It’s kind of really cool.
So recently, I’ve been taking note of some of these interesting ideas, beliefs, etc that come from her. Some make me laugh. Some are just crazy wrong. But they are all interesting. As an example, she likes broccoli stems. She prefers the stems over the florets. I think it’s partly a texture thing, but I found it interesting. It also made me observe how little stem is on the broccoli sold at most grocery stores. This is likely because most people prefer the florets. But that either means the stems are being thrown away, which is a food-waste problem, or it means they are being separated and, I don’t know, sent to companies that make pot pies and cream of broccoli soups? I hope so, but I am concerned they are being wasted.
Another funny example recently took place because she was doing a theater program for school. It was the week of the actual performance, so she had to be at school later than normal. When we picked her up, she had not been able to eat her snack, so she ate it on the way home. She had apple slices, and they had browned slightly, as they do. Owen asked her if she minded that, and she informed us that she likes it because the brown makes the apple a little sweeter and it tastes good. Who knew? We’ve been avoiding apple slices because we figured the browning would totally be a “no” with all her picky eating habits. I guess we know why there is a saying about assumptions.
Trust me, there are so many antidotes, many unrelated to food that I could share, but for this blog, we’ll stick to food. She also watches a ton of Food Network (No, I’m not solely to blame for that!) and so her descriptions of food, even if sometimes made up because she doesn’t really have a reason not to like a dish, are very articulate at least. But they almost always have a little bit of that 9 year old innocence and peculiarity that is so entertaining!
Foodie's Delimma 