Going on holiday is the best.
This is something parents and kids can definitely agree on. What’s a bit more of a struggle is convincing your little ones to try the weird and wonderful food they might encounter in other countries.
Of course, the difficulties all depend on where you go.
Unless you have a particularly picky eater on your hands, a trip to pizza-and-pasta-filled Rome is probably no problem. But what if you go farther south in Italy, where seafood reigns supreme?
Would your children be willing to try a bit from every tapas dish when you eat out in Spain?
How about if you’re going even farther afield? Can your little one’s taste buds handle the heat of Indian curries? Or the texture of Japanese sushi?
A study by Emirates Holidays said that about 45 percent of children are open to trying out new foods while on holiday. The number drops but still comes in at a relatively high 32 percent of kids who are willing to keep up the cuisine experimentation once they get home.
That’s still a whopping 68 percent who insist on sticking to the old reliables.
Now we’re not going to pretend that we’re not guilty of packing a few home comforts when we go abroad. Where would we be for two weeks without that cup o’ Barry’s?
But we have to be careful of being too unadventurous. We certainly don’t want to pass the habit on; no one wants their kids to grow up afraid to try new things. And yet up to 66 percent of parents stash safety food in their suitcases when they go on holiday.
We get the difficulty, we do. There’s no stubbornness like a child who has decided that they want chicken nuggets for dinner. In saying that, how are they expected to try new foods if you have their favourites right there?
To help you along the way, Emirates Holidays has teamed up with chefs from family restaurants all over the world to put together ‘Little Foodie’ recipes to try at home when you get back from holidays.
All that’s required is that you take the first step of introducing your young ones to new dishes when you’re away and the recipes are there to help you once you get home.
To read more about the ‘Little Foodies’ project, check out the Emirates Holidays Blog Page, where you can also download all of the recipes.
