Food Philosophies Of Kids

A Bite of New Celebrated children's books author Roopa Pai tells us sweet and tangy tales of travelling with two kids who have polar opposite views on food.

- Shreya Kharbanda

Even though you yourself are nothing like your sibling, it is always a bit of a shock to discover how different your own kids are from one another. Mine certainly are. Where food philosophies are concerned, the two—Girl (18) and Boy (13)—are at opposite sides of the spectrum. It has made for interesting times for us as a family, particularly when we travel.

GIRL VS FOOD

Travelling with the girl is a breeze—she’s easy about food, as she is about everything else. When she turned 8, we took her to the famed Sunday brunch at the Leela Palace to celebrate. She raced excitedly from one laden counter to another, oohing over the tottering piles of Danish, aahing over the fragrant cinnamon rolls. Then she stopped short at the very end of the Indian lunch spread, filled a plate with curd rice, and proceeded to scarf it down with indecent haste, looking blissfully happy.

But the girl has her preferences, her likes and dislikes— yes to cheesecake and prawns, anytime; no to mushrooms, yes to medium-to-well-done pepper steak, ‘Are you kidding me?’ to baingan. Her appetite is elastic—if we are on the road somewhere in the hinterland, she will work her way through a packet of biscuits and half a packet of chips between breakfast and dinner and be okay, settling down to a gigantic meal—two double chicken shwarma rolls chased down with lemon ice tea, followed by a doorstopper wedge of chocolate cake—when we hit civilisation again.