Try a New Food Every Day for Year

Call me a cliche, but I really enjoy setting goals and resolutions at the beginning of each new year. We can always make ourselves better right?! This year, I wanted to involve my kids so Lucy and Megan each set a personal goal and we made a few family ones.

One of our big goals is to try a new food everyday for a year. After enjoying lots of holiday goodies (with a minor downfall being Lucy nearly gagging from eating a kiwi, (she claimed "the seeds were choking her"), and Max announcing "don't like it" the second the plate is placed in front of him, I have decidely come to terms that the kids are in a bit of a rut with trying new foods. With them not in charge of the grocery shopping and me being their parent, I find a teensy itsy bitsy part of the blame resting with me.

Enter this year's New Year's Resolution: Try A New Food Every Day for a Year!

I was excited about this and immediately set to rallying the kids, which admitedly responded a little dubious. I told them they were lucky, as my first thought was for it to be 365 new fruits or vegetables, but now to think of the array of foods they can try! That didn't seem to sway them and the dubious looks continued. Next came my promises of needing their help to pick out the foods and how I needed them to rate each food (smiley face, straight face, frown face) so I would have a good record of what they really liked (wink wink). Slowly the kids began to come around.

To avoid the, "I've never had brownie double fudge ice cream before" or "I wonder what green gum balls taste like?", I had to set a few ground rules.

1. The foods must be as close to their natural state as possible. This eliminates a lot of the overy processed and enriched foods, but leaves room to try things like hummus, sushi or quinoa.

2. This applies to foods that the kids haven't tried. I will eat along with them, but since I am more of an adventurous eater, I didn't know how I would come up with 365 completely new foods (I am sure I could, but that wasn't really my point).

3. Each new food comes with a minimum of 3 bites. I already know from experience that the first bite and anticipation (or fear) of trying something new has already clouded their judgment. 3 bites will give them enough to know what they really think.

We will be beginning January 1st and I plan to post the food selections and reactions. Now...I think I had better be doing some grocery planning and shopping...