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Camp was wonderful pre-school preparedness training for me. I learned quickly that my child was not a lunch eater unless he was having his favorite cold food option: peanut butter on whole wheat. Camp was a peanut free zone. 9 times out of 10 he would come home with an uneaten lunch box and devour his dinner. I generally don’t stress about it. He eats a very good breakfast everyday and a hearty dinner. So if he bypasses lunch then it’s ok. My issue is more along the lines of wasted food. Having a mother who consistently reminded me during childhood that ‘there are starving children in Africa’ and made me do the sign of the cross before throwing out any food, it’s pretty ingrained in me that I shouldn’t be wasting what I’m lucky to have. I also have parents who were substantially good cooks. My father, albeit personality wise the most despicable man imaginable, was a damn good cook. A Spaniard who worked in many NYC Restaurants doing odds and ends, he really appreciated a good meal made from scratch and my mother followed suit. They both instilled in me a great appreciation of food and I am grateful for that.
But I digress.
I really wanted to expand on Ari’s culinary menu for lunch. So I started looking for ideas where I always look for ideas. Google. What presented itself to me was this:
- I marvel that people have the 15-20 minute time frame to put together an artistic creation of food which might not even be eaten. Ultimately, it’s JUST FOOD and in my opinion if it tastes good it doesn’t matter how it’s presented.
- The food is for kids. At times preschoolers. Children who just 2 years ago had to be spoon fed and might have found joy in smearing it across anything they could. As parents what we want is for them to eat the food not play with it so the mother’s statement of “If her boiled egg is shaped like a bunny and it is holding a baby carrot, she’ll eat it” is, to me, disturbing. You’re teaching the kid to appreciate the egg, or the design? I would think the latter. Sure if its shaped like a bunny they will find it interesting. Maybe they'll eat it. Or maybe they'll play with it. Try singing the YoGabbaGabba song “try it, you’ll like it” (it really does work) and spend less time cutting out designs. I’d much rather my kid see a piece of broccoli at the supermarket and want to eat it, then not consider it unless it’s cut in a star shape and decorated with a happy face.
- Full disclosure here, and this is squarely my issue. I probably would love to have the time to do these things. But the reality is I don’t. The thought that my child might see another child’s creative lunch and feel down that his is not as fun bothers me. And this is clearly my ongoing issue with guilt and the feeling that I don’t present enough value to my children because I have to work full time. (I’ll leave the feelings of inadequacy at not being able to volunteer more at the school for another time) but the bentos fall squarely in this. I want the best for Ari, and having this ultimately makes me feel like less.
I read this on another blog on lunch back in the day and it made me sad.
All the kids brought the same type of lunch – bologna on white bread with mayo or peanut butter and jelly wrapped in waxed paper. An apple or a banana was included in most luch bags; but Mom packed raw carrot sticks for us because they were “good for our eyesight”! Some days we were surprised by the addition of a Hostess chocolate cupcake or a bag of chips. We gobbled those lunches quickly so that we could have more time to play during the lunch recess.That is basically what I think of when I think of lunch. I remember in 7th/8th grade when I’d make lunch on my own. I’d make a simple boars head ham sandwich on an Italian hero I bought that morning at the store across the street with mayo. When lunch rolled around, Maria Lisa would give me the lettuce off her mortadella sandwich and Cindy would steal the tip of my sandwich and I’d eat some of her tuna fish. Simple. And I can’t help but think how everything seems so overly complicated now. Food should be appreciated for what it is. Has no one watched the movie Ratatouille??? Just as Wall-E presented our disturbing reality and relationship with garbage, Ratatouille I think does an amazing job in sensibly establishing a healthy relationship and appreciation of the simple pleasure of food. I love that it values striving for excellence over settling and takes multiples jabs at the frozen dinner industry, suggesting that mediocrity simply will not do. We are all capable of appreciating greatness, if not actually creating it ourselves.
I know I’m a bit of a food snob. I know at time I can be a come mierda (i.e. stuck up or pretentious) when it comes to what my kids eat. I know that when they grow older they will eat crap, all kids do. For the time being, while I still can, I’d like to limit it as much as possible. I’m trying to establish an appreciation for good food, for trying new stuff, for liking things so that it’s less of a fight when they’ve established a hard headed philosophy that what they do is always right. I want them to value real food, to smell a piece of fruit and want to eat it, to savor the flavors in cooking. I want them to enjoy healthy food options for what they are. And I think that the only way to do that is to present the food in its natural state, not disguised by figures and shapes or by fancy packaging and creative marketing campaigns. So I'm bucking the Bento trend.
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