Do You Play Food Games?

Gianna’s a gambling type of gal. Always looking to make a “deal”, her persuasion tactics include giving me “five bucks” if I let her ride her scooter to school or promising to eat all her vegetables if I let her stay “five more minutes” at the playground.

Although she may think she is quite clever (and most of the time she is), her ability to outsmart cannot compare to the mind games I play when it comes to food and particularly getting her to eat. Call it food deception or just motherly love—sometimes I just have to be a little creative to get her to go that extra food mile. So when it comes to eating something she is not particularly thrilled with, I turn the tables and make her a deal. My deal, structured around a secret ingredient, usually gets her dessert or maybe a 15-minute extension to her bedtime. But, more importantly, it gets her to eat something nutritious and sometimes different.

For example, if I make her an omelet and she decides to turn her nose up at it, I’ll tell her that I put a secret ingredient in it just for her and I was hoping she could guess what it was. Being as curious as she is, she is quick to bite (both at my game and the food). She’ll come up with things like cheese, salt or pepper, and I keep saying no and to guess again. Before we both know it, her plate is empty and we are both satisfied. I reveal the secret ingredient at the end. It could be a type of cheese like Gouda or parmesan—something her palate is less accustomed to. The next time, she remembers and always asks for that specific “secret ingredient.”

For many of us, getting the preschool posse to eat well can be just as much of a struggle as getting them to bed. Not having all the answers, I knew I’d need backup once my secret-ingredient game got old. So, here are some other “food deception” tips from other moms who do a good job of getting their kids to eat and venture out beyond chicken nuggets and mac-and-cheese. 

Leslie, mom to twins Beatrix and Josie, 4

“My girls seem to connect to the ‘when I was a little girl’ scenario. They like eating things more if I tell them I enjoyed it when I was their age. They also connect to what I tell them they liked as babies. Avocado, for example, was something they enjoyed then and now.”

Betsy, mom to Kara, 3½, and Alex, 6

“I serve my kids what I want them to eat first—like the veggies. Then I follow up with the main meal like pasta. They can’t have more pasta until they finish all their veggies. When I introduce a new food, reverse psychology works. I tell them they won't like it and then they really want to try it. A cool story also works. We told Alex, who loves animals, that seagulls ate mussels. He then tried them and loved them!”

Yuriko, mom to Nial, 3½, and Owen, 9

“Watching people eat food in a movie sometimes does the trick. In My Neighbor Totoro, there is a scene where the kids are eating fresh-picked cucumbers by the river. Now I just wash the cukes and serve them whole, and the boys gobble them up.”

Marissa, mom to Desmond, 3½

“I do not cook separate foods for Desmond—he eats what we eat. If he doesn’t like it, that is okay. The natural consequence is that he’ll be a little hungry or the imposed consequence is that he will not get dessert. (Rare because he is a good eater!) One night we had ramen with Chinese broccoli, shiitake mushrooms and red peppers. The noodles were no problem, of course, but we had some challenges with the veggies. I composed spoonfuls of noodles and a few different vegetables, and told him he could remove one thing. I would then switch up the combinations, so he ended up eating all the different vegetables! When we had spicy chicken and veggie curry, I used milk to cut the heat and dilute the sauce for his portion. He still said it was spicy but sort of enjoyed ‘putting out the fire’ by drinking water.”

Lisa, mom to Declan, 3, and Griffin, 1

“Our latest game of food deception involves using Declan's favorite color. Right now it's pink. Beets have an abundance of nutritional value, so using steamed, pureed beets in cooking is a great way to make a variety of pink creations. The most popular to date is pink mac-and-cheese. Now, if only he would experiment with the color green!” —Nicole Denis

What are some of the “food games” that work with your kids? Leave them in the comments area below.

Nicole Denis is a regular foodspring.com contributor
and is the author of foodspring’s foodie-mom blog.

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