Anonymous wrote:I think what your asking is whether some foods are too expensive to share with a crowd of kids, and my response is "hell yes." If I'm baking a batch of cupcakes for school, I'm not going to use the expensive chocolate and other ingredients. And if I'm having several families over for dinner, I'm also not going to make anything extremely pricey. But I do want my child to have a sophisticated palette and will share expensive, good-quality food with him. Although I just realized the other day that I've never bought us filet mignon - he's tasted it before, but I just can't buy him a $25 piece of meat that he'll eat in one sitting.

Sometimes I ask kids what they prefer me to deliver for school treats: home made top quality chocolate dipped strawberries or Kryspy kreme donuts? Donuts win every time. Yes, some good food is wasted on kids.

I know some families feed their kids regular milk, while parents use organic milk. No, not for the reason the holy mamas would wage a war on. It is because the kids demand the hormone laced milk to grow tall.

No. I find that DD's palate is finally awakening (she's 3), and I'm glad to be able to share the foods I love with her.

She actually prefers bitter chocolate to sweet, which I love. She's begun to eat sushi (all cooked) and asparagus, beef kibbeh, and loves "green milk" (cococnut milk, kale, pinapple, strawberries, tsp of brown sugar blended). She tried escargot with me at a restaurant recently and loved it.

So glad to be able to get her to eat more foods on a consistent basis!

Anonymous wrote:Yes there are lots of food to good for my kids! We have had them try many new and different foods as kids, and we eat in a range of restaurants serving food from around the world.

The expensive foods they can try when they are older. They need somethings still to be new to experience then! We don't eat the most expensive menu items when we go out or our budget would be blown.

We don't prepare and eat sophisticated foods in front of them. If we eat them it is while we are out alone or if the kids are away. If I make something that is pricey I will give a super small portion to each child to try and split the other 80% between my DH and I.

18:46 here. So you eat only "unsophisticated foods" with and in front of your kids because so many foods are "too good" for them? I find this bizarre.

I think what your asking is whether some foods are too expensive to share with a crowd of kids, and my response is "hell yes." If I'm baking a batch of cupcakes for school, I'm not going to use the expensive chocolate and other ingredients. And if I'm having several families over for dinner, I'm also not going to make anything extremely pricey. But I do want my child to have a sophisticated palette and will share expensive, good-quality food with him. Although I just realized the other day that I've never bought us filet mignon - he's tasted it before, but I just can't buy him a $25 piece of meat that he'll eat in one sitting.

i generally let my son have whatever we are having. he's likely not to want to try something new, knowing him, but i don't think i would ever tell him he couldn't have something i was eating (unless it had caffeine or alcohol in it...)

Anonymous wrote:Saving the "good fruit" from WF for the kids (which begs the question, what do the martyr mommies eat in this case? rotten fruit?) is a far cry from buying enough oysters or
filet mignon for 2 adults and 3 kids - 2 of whom will not eat any and one of whom may have 2 bites. Of course my kids get a variety of food - including the *cough* good fruit! But they don't get my oysters that I save up for and treat myself with.

Again, no one except you is suggesting you buy expensive food for kids who won't eat it. That's not the discussion here. If you'd like to start that discussion, please start a new thread. Good grief.

I think there is a big difference between not buying lobster for a kid that will barely take a bite and giving the kid the inferior product (Hershey kiss) while you eat the good chocolate because they can't appreciate the difference. I can understand the former but find the latter a bit selfish. I want my kids to eat high quality chocolate even if that means less or none for me. Same thing with expensive fruit, I buy raspberries etc. for kids but I usually eat apples, bananas (the cheap fruits).

Saving the "good fruit" from WF for the kids (which begs the question, what do the martyr mommies eat in this case? rotten fruit?) is a far cry from buying enough oysters or
filet mignon for 2 adults and 3 kids - 2 of whom will not eat any and one of whom may have 2 bites. Of course my kids get a variety of food - including the *cough* good fruit! But they don't get my oysters that I save up for and treat myself with.

Anonymous wrote:We are French, and my 7 year old son and 2 year old daughter love foie gras and caviar, hate lobster, and have never tried oysters (because I dislike them and never buy the buggers).

We are not rich, but love an occasional taste of sophisticated food - that we all share.

Reserving it for the grown-ups would be mean and hinder our children's palates from developing an appreciation for food.

Maybe there is a cultural difference?

I am American and I agree with this. My children love sushi, beef tenderloin, lobster. We only buy good-quality ice cream (the ingredients on the others turn my stomach).

We don't eat these things all the time, of course, but when we do, adults and children alike eat the same thing (assuming that is what they want).

Why not give a bite to your little one's to taste? I think it's wonderful for children to develop good taste in food, whether that food is expensive, high end specialty gourmet or inexpensive ethnic street food. The point is that good food is good food, and you might as well introduce your child's palate to good food sooner rather than later.

BTW, if you can afford expensive chocolate, you should share it with your family. FWIW, DS has tried oysters, fancy sushi, gourmet chocolates, lobster, stone crab, etc. Basically, we let him try whatever we eat (except for alcoholic beverages and caffinated beverages).

Yes there are lots of food to good for my kids! We have had them try many new and different foods as kids, and we eat in a range of restaurants serving food from around the world.

The expensive foods they can try when they are older. They need somethings still to be new to experience then! We don't eat the most expensive menu items when we go out or our budget would be blown.

We don't prepare and eat sophisticated foods in front of them. If we eat them it is while we are out alone or if the kids are away. If I make something that is pricey I will give a super small portion to each child to try and split the other 80% between my DH and I.

We share the good stuff with our daughter, but she's not always interested. We had some fabulous scallops a few weekends ago and she refused to try a single bite - her loss! OP, let the kids have a bite and see if they like it, and have something more kid-friendly on hand if they don't.

Anonymous wrote:Kids often waste most of the food on their plate. I don't think PPs are assholes for not wanting to potentially throw away $20, 30, 50 dollars worth of food just so junior can have a taste. We don't all have a limitless budget on DCUM. I will let a child try anything from my plate, but no, I am not going to prepare a lobster for a child who I know will eat ONE BITE and be done, just for the sake of developing his palate.

I agree with this, and I'm one of the PPs who lets her kid eat anything. I certainly don't make him a whole separate portion if he's going to eat one bite - that's silly, wasteful, expensive and irritating. But if it's something I know he likes (steak, lobster, fancy ice cream, veal, whatever) he gets his own portion.

And calling someone an asshole for this is pretty ridiculous. Have you ever ordered stone crabs (I assume from Joe's, in Miami)? They are INSANELY expensive. A LOT more expensive than buying an extra lobster or filet, and it's not like you get a large volume. A motivated 7 yo could polict off $150 of stone crabs, no problem. That seems a little excessive.

We spend a fortune each week on blackberries, kiwi, etc, and my husband and I hardly eat any of it, it's for our kids. I kind of forget to, but my husband is hardly aware it's in the house. It's for their lunches.

We buy San Pelligrino water at Costco because we both have an unholy addiction to it. My 11 and 9 year old daughters would like to guzzle it, but we don't share it with them. Plain water for them.

I'm one of the previous apparent assholes that has one meal a year that is an expensive food that we don't share with our kids (stone crabs). It's not for fear that they won't appreciate it, they love blue crabs, but it's an expensive meal that is a special treat for my husband. We can't afford it for the whole family, so we eat it after the kids are in bed. Apparently that makes me ridiculous and an asshole. We also can't afford for all our kids to order filet mignon or oysters on the rare occasions we eat out either, but then we don't order it for ourselves either because of the cost.