For the Fourth of July, I had to stop at the store to pick up a few items. We were having the grandparents over, and while we were being provided with a lot of essentials, there were things that were necessary to make it a lovely day.
Alex and I went into the store, him plopped in the little seat in the cart (if anyone asks, he's 35 pounds. I'm sticking to that.), me holding my phone with the Groceries App list open.
I agreed, and we grabbed an extra half pint of raspberries just because.
An older man was picking out strawberries right next to us and commented that he loves to see kids excited about healthy food. I agreed, and we went on our way around the store.
One thing is for sure, that kid could almost entirely survive on fruit if I would let him. Particularly berries, and particularly when they are in season.
But he also loves most other food. Honestly, I can't complain about him as an eater. There are days when he won't eat, but there are days when he scarfs down whatever I put in front of him. His favorite snack is a salad.
I tried to explain how much that would hurt the animal. How we can't just chop off a piece of a living creature.
I told him that was fine! He could eat his berries and have corn on the cob for dinner.
He asked me if he could have some cheese for a snack when we got home because apparently thinking about where food comes from made him hungry. I told him of course, and then he asked me about cheese. How it's made. I reminded him that the cheese we eat comes from either cows or goats, primarily. We went into…details.
We then discussed bacon. Chicken-thigh kebabs. Sausage. Eggs. His favorite food in the world: goat cheese.
Let's just say, this kid isn't going to become a vegan any time soon. Kid likes his meat, and I don't think he will ever give up goat cheese.
Kids are so funny! My oldest may be a vegetarian for life — she's very committed (at 7 years old). My younger daughter happily tells everyone she's a vegetarian except for shrimp (which she's had once). My son would eat nothing but fruit most days, but I can usually get some quorn nuggets, beans, or noodles in him. I think the more we talk to our kids about good food, and where it comes from (i.e. locally sourced beef), the better off we'll all be.
I absolutely agree with that last statement! We try as much as possible to buy local, and the meat we buy is at this point about 50% local/well treated animals. Otherwise, we at least buy free range/antibiotic free/blah blah, which is NOT perfect, but is better than conventional. Hopefully we can both instill some knowledge about the importance of food, how it is grown, etc. in our children!