How do parents get their kids to eat spicy foods?

[keety]

@puddintain Awe!!! She sounds fun! and the heat cutting foods is a great idea! Thanks for that!!

 

[ositez]

@keety There's a lot of science and research nowadays about food preferences. Apparently, they start in the third trimester and continue during breastfeeding, so definitely don't give up spicy foods yourself. Kids also model their behavior after their parents, so even if your kid doesn't like something, show them that you are enjoying it. Also, some parents give in to their kids and just let them eat whatever they want, but this isn't very conductive to a diverse palette. In France, what they do is have children take a bite of everything on the table each time, so even if they don't like it now, eventually they will hopefully get used to it. Lastly, try serving your spicy foods with things like yogurt. That mellows out the spice and can help them get used to it.

 

[keety]

@ositez I didn’t know that! Thanks!!

 

[dincali]

@keety You don't, they just grab what you are eating. My husband can't stand spice, my kids on the other hand love it to the point that I make things to their liking and than to his.

 

[fazio]

@keety It’s also about personal preference. One of my kids can’t handle spice and the youngest regularly eats spicy without batting an eye. We just let they try pretty much anything they wanted and they figured out how spicy they can go.

 

[janetmal]

@keety You can't really do that. I had 3 kids. One wanted only sweets, the other wanted spicy and sour, the youngest wanted fruity flavors. This was as children. They are in their 40s now. The oldest loves just about everything now, and the 2nd one does, too, but leans towards spicy. The youngest just eats to live and really doesn't care what she eats. Same parents, so go figure.

 

[daviss9097]

@keety My SIL is Korean. Our kids were born a week apart. When our babies started eating she was feeding 'Jr' her style of food that made me sweat. He loved it!
I was feeding my child the bland Gerber's stuff and some other typical 'white' dinner stuff.

My kid seemed to have been jealous of her cousin's meal and grabbed one of his noodles. She was shocked, but loved it!

40 years later my kid desires spicy Asian food...and she's whiter than an Iowa saltine!!

Start them young. A little at a time.

 

[christian4god]

@keety With our son, he would try anything and everything when he first started weaning, so we introduced spices straight away. He became a bit more discerning as his tastes developed but he's now 2 and he still enjoys spicy foods such as chilli, curry etc. It's mostly about exposure with a small dose of personal preference.

 

[igvh91]

@keety Why would you want anyone to eat something they don't like, makes no sense.

 

[keety]

@igvh91 I’m confused by your comment, I’m just trying to figure out how other families introduce spicy foods to young children, since it was looked at as “bad” when I was growing up

 

[moottheband]

@igvh91 One must try it to make that determination, then decide to no longer eat it thereafter.

 

[cafeeine]

@keety Just have it accessible like any other food and the kid with or won't eat it.

It's not poison.

Uncomfortable sure, but it's food.

 

[keety]

@cafeeine Thank you! It was treated like poison when I was growing up! I didn’t want to take the joy of spicy from my kid, but I also don’t want to traumatize them either!

 

[dkitching]

@keety I did Baby Led Weaning. Look into it. Baby gets everything you eat starting at 6 months. It's just cut age appropriately. There are Facebook pages, Instagram, probably a Reddit too.
It's so easy.
My kids love spicy, they love everything. We have no food aversions or dislikes here!

 

[keety]

@dkitching Cool!! I’ll look into it!! Thanks!

 

[deacongirl]

@keety They try stuff and sometimes like it.

My 6yo insists on having sriracha in his tomato soup because it just tastes better.

My 9yo, at age 3, used to eat hot Thai fish cakes and alternate with yoghurt (and panting), steal my curry noodles, etc. Now he won't touch anything spicy. That's ok too.

 

[joyjoyrw]

@keety We still serve curry etc when baby was weaning it would just be the rice, maybe a bit of naan and a dip of the sauce now they are 1 and 2 they get a spoon or so of sauce, but the rice and bread seperate. That way if its a "I don't like it" day they can choose to eat the safe foods we have just presented it as we do any other foods

 

[marshmelly]

@keety I think a lot of it is just from availability. Regular pepper was the only thing remotely spicy in our household when I grew up, so I really was not used to any spice until I became an adult and started to go to restaurants with other cuisines.

So for one thing, as others have said, flavors that the mom eats can be tasted by the baby through the amniotic fluid, that's one thing.

Also, it's a matter of dosage. For example, if we eat a semi-spicy curry with potatoes and meat, we will cook the meat and the potatoes in the curry sauce.

My kid would not get a full ladle of curry sauce on his rice, that would have been too hot, but we'd give him rice, potatoes and meat that still had a bit of sauce stuck to it. That way he got the flavors and a tiny bit of spice. And after a while, you can add a dab of sauce to the rice and increase that slowly if the child likes the taste.

 

[morristj]

@keety I like spicy food and my daughter saw that and tried to copy. Then she kept trying to show off until her tolerance was higher than mine. It definitely had to be her choice tho when she wanted to try something spicy

 

[locket104]

@keety So, when I was pregnant I craved spicy food. Nothing was every spicy enough for me. I also had TERRIBLE heartburn the entire time (I never had heartburn before or since) that only chocolate milk and yogurt could help. My son is 3 now and would eat flamin hot cheetos at 2, yet he say an El Monterey breakfast burrito it "too spicy" and eats it anyway. I wouldn't cut anything out although I would make a small amount of whatever spicy food without the spicy and give the spicy and if they don't like it give them the plain. Maybe make it less spicy. It probably depends on the kid. Everyone is different and I'm sure there's Asian and Mexican people that don't like spicy foods.