Back to the roots

How different can children be in terms of culinary tastes!...Lili has never been a fruit & veg' eater, the only items reaching her stomach (sometimes) are brocoli, cucumber, apple (raw but not cooked), potatoes, satsumas, melon, mushrooms (on a good day) and peaches. That's about it.

As far as Otto is concerned, vegetables (bar cucumber and raw carrots) are enemies (he nearly faints when he is presented with a bowl of soup, at least despairs loudly and won't even touch the substance, would rather roll on the floor in loud protest) but fruit is his best friend - I have never seen a more voracious banana- or sultana-eater than this son of mine, who also tries blueberry, dried apricots, dates, pears, watermelon, plums, anything colourful and sticky...

When it comes to Pops, fruit are not at all a favourite thing, as often too hard to chew. Bananas (which Pete hates with a passion) and grapes are the extent of Poppy's fruity adventures, with the exception of ripe juicy strawberries in summer. But Poppy loves vegetables, cooked or raw. She even has a passion for...beetroot! The dark pink type is her absolute fav' and she gobbles the stuff as if there was no tomorrow. Last week I discovered a different sort, called "Polka beetroot" here in Sweden, in reference to the "polkagris" red-and-white sweeties, a speciality seen often during the Christmas season. Cooked and seasoned, the polka beet passed the Poppy-test: tasted and approved, to her brother's and sister's unsympathetic amazement.