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My brain tells me what to eat!
Adrian Mourby discovers that challenging children’s taste buds might be too much of a holiday adventure.
Breakfast
"Venice - what parent wouldn’t want to introduce his children to the delights of European living? I brought my two to a hotel famous for is comfort and it's sea-food. Yes, I know what you are thinking - how will seven year-old John and ten year-old Miranda react to a plate full of squid? At least breakfast shouldn’t pose too much of a problem… "It looks like strawberry juice."
"Why is that?"
"Because it's red!"
"It says orange on the side, but this is red orange-juice."
"Prune; it's a dried fruit - would you like to try that?"
"Yuck! I hate fruit!" Seven year-old boys are not known for their Epicurean adventurousness. Maybe ten year-old Miranda can be persuaded to eat something a touch more sophisticated? "Prochuta. It's a very thin ham - tell me what you think of it?" "It’s OK, but I think I prefer Co-Co Pops."
Lunch
"John, do you know what this is?"
"Octopus, I can guess".
"Do you think octopus tastes nice?"
"I don’t think I would trust it".
"But do you think you could try being an octopus eater just for me?"
"No thanks, it is my brain who tells me what to eat."
"So what does your brain tell you to eat?"
"It tells me to eat vegetables and meat, it doesn’t tell me to eat octopus."
"So what does it tell you to eat in Venice?"
"It tells me to eat Spaghetti Bolongaise."
Dinner
"We are going the wrong way. MacDonald’s is that way."
"MacDonald’s. Do we want to eat in MacDonald’s in Venice?"
(together)"Yes we do!"
Oh, the shame of it! Am I the only parent to suffer this way? After some investigation I found that no matter where you go or where you come from children don’t like what they don’t know.
Finally
Back at the hotel - you have to admire the waiter - bending the chef's ear to saute our English palete. The verdict on the Italian-style fish finger? (Miranda) "Well, it is fish in bread crumbs and the fish isn’t actually cod, but the chips is very nice and so is the tomato ketchup. So I would say that this is the kind of food that makes you feel at home!"
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