This month at Let’s Dish! we decided to go on a “culinary adventure.”

Even at our mid-Atlantic headquarters this meant something different to each and every one of us. To me, it meant trying the latest thing from Timbuktu. To Alexa, it meant introducing a new flavor to her kids that they might not have yet tried. And to some it meant, “Oh, dear, will my family eat this month?”.

After talking to many, I feel like March’s menu really does accomplish everything… it explores new places, new tastes - and yes, still helps you get dinner on the table. Nothing we have prepared was taken to lengths where we felt it would “scare” customers from eating it. We didn’t put on Shark Fin Soup or use century-year-old eggs (delicacies from Asian cultures) or grasshoppers (which is common in Africa) or even turtle meat (a favorite from South America). Except for a few ingredients - miso paste, for example - everything we use as ingredient this month can be found at your local grocery store. You just may not frequently put these items in your cart … yet!

Throughout the month on Food for Thought, we will give you helpful hints on ways to really explore and go on “culinary adventures” at home, from games to play at the dinner table to discussing new flavors and ingredients, providing you with side dish and dessert options, even some hints for your canine family members.

We hope you’ll join us and not only bring home our delicious meals this month, but also add your own ideas to this blog on where we should go. Feel free to ask us questions, provide your favorite “culinary adventure” story or recipe, and let us know how we are doing with our exploration of a variety of cuisines. Simply email us or add a comment to any post.

Ok - we are ready for take-off. Fasten your seat belts and away we go…

First and most important -
How to introduce new foods to children (and maybe that picky adult too):

• Introduce a new food in a neutral manner. Talk about the food’s color, shape, size, aroma and texture - but not about whether it tastes good.
• Make it fun. I always try to equate a new food to something the kids are familiar with, for example “Asian BBQ Pork Wraps,” I would introduce as “Asian Tacos” as my kids will eat just about anything called a “taco.”
• Be patient with your child’s investigative habits. Young children often touch or smell new foods, and may even put tiny bits in their mouths and then take them back out again. Children often need at least 10 exposures to a new food before they accept it, so be persistent.
• Include something on the plate that you know they’ll like. If I am trying a new flavor profile on chicken for example, I will make sure that the vegetable is something I know they will eat and will get the nutrition they need for that meal. One new thing at a time can sometimes be enough.

Stay tuned for more! Tomorrow we’ll continue our tips on how to introduce new foods to your family. Join us this month for an adventure you’re sure to enjoy!

RELATED LINKS:
> Browse the March menu for our Let’s Dish! stores
> Read Q & A with Valerie Harding, Our New Chef

Food for Thought, a Let’s Dish! blog, and this month’s “culinary adventures” are brought to you by the Let’s Dish! team in Maryland and Northern VA. Participating store locations include Baltimore, Bel Air, Columbia, Gaithersburg and Rockville, MD, and Alexandria, Ashburn, Fairfax and Leesburg, VA.