? For Parents from Cultures that Eat Very Spicy Foods

[Anonymous]

I'm an American, but I love to cook and DH and I eat primarily spicy foods. I regularly cook Thai and Indian cuisine. When DS was close to 1 he would easily tolerate fairly spicy Indian chicken curry, I suppose his taste buds were not developed enough to realize how hot is was! Now, at age 2, the recoiles at spicy foods. I most always have to cook him something separate from the family meal, due to the heat.

How do people from cultures that have a spicy diet introduce spice to their young toddlers? I really can't omit the spice in what I cook because it will ruin the taste of most of the dishes I cook. I can tone it down a bit, but even a hit of heat, DS won't eat it.


I'd love to hear from other spicy mammas!

[Anonymous]

I serve milk wtb any spicy dish. Kills the capsaicin better than water!

[Anonymous]

I am Indian - and I actually do not like a lot of heat in my food -- I love lots of flavor and spices, but I do not like the heat. Nonethless, many Indian dishes in restaurants are spicy, so we always give my daughter plain yogurt with her Indian food. She eats a little curry or chicken tikka, and then dips her chicken in the yogurt or mixes the sauce with yogurt. There are also Indian sweet chutneys (like mango chutney) that a child would enjoy, and may take the edge off. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I will often wind up making two kinds of curry, a hot and a mild. I will also take out something for the children, before adding the hot peppers. If we give them Kimchi, we rinse it off first.

I agree that milk is better than water.