Believe it or not, there are easier ways to get your kids to eat fish than relying on bribes … don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of a good bribe every now and then, but if you follow these four tips, you’ll be serving seafood in your home (without any push back) at least twice a week đ Oh, and then you won’t wonder how that hot dog ended up on the grill plate!
- If this is the first or second time introducing your kids to seafood, serve one of the following dishes:Â Parmesan-crusted salmon (because it’s an easy thing to make and it will remind them of baked chicken) OR from the grocer’s freezer … coconut shrimp with dipping sauce of choice (yes, you can buy frozen shrimp already prepped to cook in the oven)
- Plan meals in advance, and talk up the sides … serve cod with homemade french fries; grilled salmon with fettuccine alfredo; baked halibut with scalloped potatoes or steamed rice. And don’t forget the fresh berries with whip cream.
- When planning a dinner with seafood as your main protein (instead of poultry or pork or beef), keep it simple. Don’t try some crazy recipe with tomato sauce or something stuffed with spinach. Just keep it simple and chance are, they’ll love it.
- And remember to be a good role model. If you eat it, chances are they will too.
“Being a good role model is so important ⌠parents should introduce seafood early, in ways that seafood itself isnât put on trial ⌠it takes the trepidation away.” ~ Barton Seaver
NOTE: This is a repost/follow up to a piece I wrote last year, highlighting an Irish chef who’s determined to bring seafood to the plates, and mouths, of more youngsters. Below, is the original article.
Head chef and owner of Michaelâsâa Dublin, Ireland eatery focused on providing customers with fresh, sustainable seafood âdirectly from the boatsââis on a mission to get kids eating more seafood. Known to his patrons simply as Gaz, the restaurateur didnât grow up eating seafood, nor did he always have the fondness for seafood that he does now.
âI didnât appreciate the seafood Ireland had until we moved to Austriaâit was only when living in landlocked Austria that I realized how lucky we are,â he said.
Upon his return to Ireland, he said he started noticing how many kids wouldnât try fish.
âI used to go to the tables and try to convince (or bribe) them to try seafood and if they didnât like it, I would cook them whatever they wanted ⌠it worked.â And eventually, he says kids progressed from pleading for nuggets to coming in and asking, âwhatâs best today the squid or the mussels.â
And it was the younger generationâs newfound interest in seafood, that got Gaz geared up to launch his Seafood September menuâa special seafood-based menu, free to kids 12 and under.
As for his culinary skills, he says they were âbarrenâ in the early days.
âIt was turkey twizzlers and chip sandwiches,â says the chef whoâs been featured in Food & Wine magazine not once, but twice. âI definitely did it the hard way, going from better restaurant to better restaurant,â he said. âMy Chart House days were the turning point for my love of seafood ⌠I was very lucky to work with the Chart House gang and seeing the fresh seafood for the first time was eye opening.â
And, says Gaz, itâs been a strong theme in his cooking ever since.
Coming up NEXT on the blog ⌠more heart-healthy adventures in honor of American Heart Month.
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DISCLAIMER: Iâm a writer and an editor. And I try my best to make sure every post is articulate and free from errors. However, being that I edit my own workâand itâs next to impossible to properly edit your own workâI admit, occasionally there may be an error or two I miss. But doing so doesnât make me an idiot so donât be mean. Just smile, pat yourself on the back for finding an error and be glad youâre not the only one who makes mistakes sometimes ⌠yes, even mermaids slip up every now and then. xoxox
Brilliant!
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Maybe I need to try that. Thanks for sharing that one.
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