This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Khristianne Uy, known as Chef K. She is a celebrity private chef, entrepreneur, and content creator based in Los Angeles. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.
As a private chef, you really are present in all moments of your client’s life. Whether it’s happy, joyous holidays, raucous weekends, or Monday mornings, you really get to know somebody.
I’ve spent years diving into new scenarios, putting on my Chef K cape, and keeping clients — and their families — healthy and sustained.
I try to do the same with the recipes I share on social media. At a recent event, a woman told me her stepchildren had started eating her cooking after she made one of my recipes — and even wanted to invite their friends over for the next meal. That’s how I know I’ve done a good job.
Here are some of my tips for encouraging children to try new foods based on my experiences:
1. I create ‘forever’ and ‘never’ lists
Whenever I start working for a family with children, I create a “forever” list and a “never” list: “forever” being foods they are comfortable with, and “never” being foods they don’t want to eat.
When a child tries a food, they can add it to their “forever” list or their “never” list. It works. Some of the children will tell me after they try something new: “Chef K, Chef K, forever list!”
I also create three other kinds of lists to help guide my cooking: green, yellow, and red. Red would be unhealthy foods, and yellow would be stuff you’d have maybe three times a week. I try to keep meals within the green and yellow.
2. Start with the foods your family already loves
When I do a consultation for a brand-new client, I go look at their pantry. I see what kinds of foods are the go-tos.
Say they’re a mac and cheese family. I’ll introduce brown-rice pasta, for instance, instead of eliminating mac and cheese from their diets.
Think about what kind of foods your family already enjoys — is it mostly rice-based or pasta-based? What kind of condiments do you always have in the fridge?
Try to follow that line and introduce new foods or healthier options alongside these.
3. Make the kitchen an inviting place
In my childhood, there was intimacy and heart in the kitchen. When you involve children, they feel a sense of belonging. You can involve them through storytelling.
For example, sometimes, I’ll bring it back to my own experiences. I’ll say to a kid who doesn’t like a particular food that I didn’t like it either when I was a kid. I’ll reassure them they don’t have to either.
I never force someone to try something new, especially a child. You have to be inviting, not intimidating — or else they will never try your food.
I will taste the food in front of them, and sometimes they will ask if they can taste it. They want to be a part of the experience.
4. Make new ingredients familiar to children
When I want a child to try something new, I will try to make it as familiar as possible to them.
A good example is carrot sticks. Nobody wants a carrot stick, especially a child trying it for the first time. So I’ll cut the carrot like a french fry, air fry it, and serve it with ketchup.
The child then sees an element of the dish that makes it familiar.
Anything green tends to be an issue with kids — even a speck of Italian seasoning in their pasta. Make up for it by adding extra cheese.
Try to make greens as tasty as possible to get them past the green color. Sometimes, I’ll make kale chips, flavor them with nacho cheese, and pair them with a dip.
If you told a child who doesn’t like cabbage, “You’re gonna have stuffed cabbage tonight,” they will turn it down. But if I add that cabbage into a lasagna, it’s a different story.
5. Involve children in the cooking process
I give children the ability to decide whether they want to try something new. It’s a bit like a bartering exchange. Even with cookies, for instance, I will ask if they want to try a new topping. They’ll suggest a topping, and I’ll suggest another.
Kids tend to like the simple things: white rice, bread and butter, butter pasta. If you want a child to become more familiar with sushi, build your own — whatever that is for you. Some of the kids start off only wanting to eat hot dogs. So, hot dog sushi it is.
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