What is a family-friendly restaurant? Perhaps the better question might be: What restaurant isn’t family friendly? And if it isn’t family friendly, is it a place where I would choose to dine?
My husband and I are not fancy people, and although we enjoy a wide range of foods, we’re never going to be comfortable going to the kind of restaurant where you pay a premium to get a micro-portion. We prefer spicy foods, and not just the kind of spice found in peppers. We like all kinds of ethnic fare, but more than that, we love the adventure and thrill of discovery when we find new and exotic flavors or locations. And, since this is what we enjoy, our kids have grown up eating adventurously as well.
Katie, in Capital District Fun, posted an excellent article listing local family-friendly restaurants, and offering advice for getting kids (and parents) to expand their culinary horizons. I’m all for that! In the post, she refers to Ellyn Satter‘s book Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense:
One of the main points of the Child of Mine book is that asking/begging/forcing kids to try stuff will just turn into a power struggle, but if you’re eating and enjoying good food, kids will naturally want to do it, too, because they want to be super-cool grown-ups.
Yes, that’s right! And in that spirit of healthy, adventurous eating, I’m going to share an article I posted a while back on my personal blog, The Journey Mom:
What I Won’t Try For Love Or Money!
For all that I enjoy exploring culinary flavors, I’d never make it onto a Survivor or Fear Factortype show as there are some foods that I won’t try.
Long ago, I too was a foolhardy teenager who could be bribed to take on idiotic challenges. Friends still shake their heads recounting the time that I dove into shark-infested waters for a measly $20 dare. Another challenge, sporting a purple streak of hair for a week, netted me a cool $100. Sure, I was an idiot, but at least I wasn’t losing dumb bets.
With the greater wisdom of age, I have no problem turning down “special dishes” when they belong in the wild, not on my plate.
My dear husband; however, is not so easily immune to a food challenge.
Back in 2004, on a family vacation in Vietnam, we found a restaurant that served an unusual assortment of exotic foods. It was a once in lifetime opportunity to sample adventurous fare such as scorpions, field rats, or worms.
I had no trouble just saying no. Dave, on the other hand, was torn. He didn’t want to pass up such a rare opportunity, and the kids were begging him to get the scorpions. He was scared and disgusted, but how could he resist the challenge? Macho man just had to order the scorpion dish.
Once he placed the order, there was no turning back. We weren’t going to let him back down. We also weren’t above a few chicken cackles. The coup de grâce was that our four-year-old friend, Joseph, had no fear handling the scorpions. He even seemed to enjoy them!
Now, I’m not going to tell you that this turned out to be a surprisingly delicious dish. I wouldn’t even know, as I held firm. However, Dave did taste the scorpion and claimed it was alright, just a bit crunchy.
At least one member of our family is a truly adventurous epicurean.
As you can see, we’ve set the bar high for adventurous eating with our family. Is it any wonder that they are willing to give a variety of restaurants a chance?
This is why, here at Albany Kid, we say that every restaurant is family-friendly!
