I have recently entered a new and baffling world of pint-sized picky eaters. Well, to be fair, there is really only one pint-sized picky eater. I’ve been spending a lot of time with a ten-year-old who, I’m coming to realize, has the most Byzantine rules regarding what she will and won’t eat this side of Orthodox Judaism.
The most recent adventure involved lasagna. It wasn’t eggplant lasagna or anything unexpected like that. It was your basic sauce, noodles, cheese and meat lasagna. I even used boring hamburger instead of Italian sausage because I could foresee the spiced variety of meat causing drama. I’d seen the kid eating pizza before, and I figured that lasagna was basically the same thing. Apparently, I was mistaken. What I wasn’t aware of is that tomato sauce is a definite no. Her words were, I believe, that the tomato sauce “scared her”. She spent dinner picking out chunks of noodles and scraping any vestiges of sauce and cheese off of them before she held her nose and swallowed quickly.
I was more amused by the situation than anything else. From a conversation we had while I was cooking, I already had a heads up she wasn’t going to be partial to the lasagna, and my feelings aren’t going to be hurt by her not liking something I cooked. She already thinks my bean and cheese burritos are the food of the gods and is of the opinion that no one boils up a pot of buttered noodles like I do, so I know she wasn’t reacting to me but to the food.
What made me really decide to give up on understanding the rules of what is and is not acceptable was when I mentioned the broccoli I hadn’t cooked because I felt like the lasagna and garlic bread was enough. Her eyes lit up and she actually looked excited over the prospect of a green vegetable. Apparently, the kid who won’t eat lasagna because she’s worried about tomato sauce loves steamed broccoli. Not broccoli smothered in cheese sauce or dipped in lots of ranch either. Just plain, steamed, buttered broccoli.
I’m not going to try to make sense of it anymore. I’m just going to enjoy the ride.
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