La Villa Bonita Mexican Culinary Vacation

Recipe for Sopa de Lima or Lima Soup: Cozumel

La Villa Bonita — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:12:37 +0000

On occasion we will leave our comfortable confines at La Villa Bonita and cook in different environments or different parts of Mexico to add to my repertior and give guests a new and different experience. This year we had cooking sessions on the island of Cozumel. While big tourism has changed the cuisine offered in hotels, there is a local cuisine that is still delicious and good. It needs to be elevated and learned. I was amazed at the amount of Italian cuisine restaurants in both Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Such food is great but there is a wonderful local cuisine that is not being appreciated. When we travel, we always try to elevate the local cuisine so that it is visible and accessible. When we come back to Tepoztlán we integrate these elements into our repertoire for our culinary packages.

We had a great time with our guests in Cozumel, getting to know or fish providers and the wonderful variety of seafood available in the region and discovering these great local dishes.

This particular dish, sopa de lima, is very popular in the southeast section of Mexico. It calls for Limas which are a specific type of lime. We have them in Tepoztlán in our back yard and they are a different type of lime. If you do not have them substitute Key Limes and they will work fine but the Lima has a distinct flavor.

Sopa de lima (Lima Soup) 6 servings

1 chicken breast with skin and bone

10 oz. chicken feet or wings or backs

2 garlic cloves, pealed

½ medium white onion

1 clove

1 cilantro sprig

1 epazote sprig (if possible)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3 quarts or 12 cups of water

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ cup red onion, finely chopped

½ cup green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 cups tomato, peeled, seeded and finely chopped

6 Limas or Key Limes or 3 Persian limes, thinly sliced

4 corn tortillas cut into strips and dried for 2 to 3 hours or over night

1 cup of canola oil

1 avocado (optional)

Broth

My preferred method of making broth is with a pressure cooker but if you don’t have one you may use a regular stock pot. Place chicken into the pressure cooker or the stock pot and add garlic cloves, the clove inserted into the onion (so they are not floating around in the pot), cilantro, epazote, dried oregano, water and salt. Place pot over a high heat and allow for broth to come to a simmer. Reduce the heat. Take off the foam that will form with a spoon and repeat this procedure until the broth doesn’t produce any more foam.

If you are using the pressure cooker place the top of the pressure cooker and cook for another 45 minutes on medium high. If you are using a regular stock pot, cook for 1hr and 30 minutes on medium high. When chicken broth is ready take the chicken breast out. Allow it to cool enough to shred.

Soup

In your soup pot place the olive oil and red onion and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until transparent. Then add the green pepper and tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth with slices of lime. Save a few fresh slices for serving. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes and take the lime slices out.

Corn strips

In a sauté pan add the canola oil on high heat. When it is hot add the corn strips and then fry until golden. Take out and place on paper towels to drain.

In a soup bowl place the shredded chicken, tortilla strips and a slice of avocado and a fresh slice of lime. Ladle some of the chicken broth and enjoy.

If you would like to print out this recipes click here for the PDF version.

What makes Tepoztlán so different?

La Villa Bonita — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:14:00 +0000

Money Can’t Buy You Love. In Tepoztlan, money doesn’t get you very much as far as respect is concerned. Your position in the community, your standing with your neighbors and your barrio is everything. Do you contribute to the local festivals? Do you lend a hand to a neighbor? Are you involved? I can’t tell you how many examples of people who have come to Tepoztlán thinking that money will get results. That isn’t the case. It is what you do that counts, not what you have.

Buy Local. There are very few non-local businesses here. Apart from two banks, there are no franchises, department stores or big supermarkets. As well, there are no big hotels, no golf courses (will get to that in a minute), and no big box stores. People wouldn’t support them and the town wouldn’t allow it. That makes things a little expensive here, but people are willing to pay the price to support local businesses. Moreover, the daily market and the Sunday/Wednesday farmers market is a big attraction and a local staple in the economy. People have engaged in buying local here as a way of life long before it was considered fashionable.

Someone to Watch Over Me. About 20 years ago or so, there was a planned condominium golf course community to be constructed close to Tepoztlán in the National Forrest Preserve. The town was vehemently against it. It was believed that there would be a tax on the water table, chemical runoff, lots of outsiders, and tons of maid and gardener jobs. The town basically said, “we like our life as it is” and began manning a blockade to earth-moving equipment for a couple of years. The mayor was brushed aside. The barrios took over the town to provide essential services such as security. This caused citizens to take up the duty of monitoring their neighborhoods and keeping an eye out, making sure that things were safe. The golf course development project came and went. This community activism saved the town and put in place a sense of responsibility for your own neighborhood/barrio.

Contentment. This is important. Contentment is everything in life, right? This is still primarily a subsistence farming community. People produce for their own consumption on a plot of land outside of the valley and sell or barter the rest in the local market or among friends and relatives. Many people have a local “tourism-related” business that they operate on the weekends when Tepoztlán receives its normal flow of guests. If you have a roof over your head, enough food to eat, a nice and safe community to raise your kids, and a beautiful backdrop to your city, you can’t really ask for much more. People are content here.

Sense of Community. It grows on you. Recycling has been in effect for decades and is almost obligatory with the snide look the non-recyclable garbage guys gives you when you have too much trash. Daily people sweep their stoop in front of their house where through the hard work of members of the barrio streets are constructed and maintained. Tepoztecos are involved in various projects to support the community but also just lending a hand to a neighbor when for example he is adding a second story to his house. After being here for a while you want to contribute as others do. It is infectious. Robb was inspired to contribute and started the first little league baseball team here to offer kids a positive activity and many others offer the same type of service to the community. As well, you are constantly enveloped in the sounds of the community – the rooster crowing, the newspaper headlines announced over the loudspeaker, the church broadcasting mass, next door neighbor kid practicing his trombone for the local children’s orchestra. The community web around you is palpable and part of what makes it an enjoyable place to visit and live.

Adherence to Tradition. If you don’t appreciate religious processions, fireworks day and night, an occasional traffic inconvenience, and lots of celebrations, Tepoztlán is not the place for you. There is a something going on literally every week or weekend in this festive town. Sometimes (but not always) non-Tepozteco Mexicans see the strict adherence to local customs as inconvenient or backwards. Yet this is the glue that keeps the community together. As a result, locals are a little suspicious of other non-Tepozteco Mexicans, but do appreciate foreign tourists. It is thought that foreign tourists visit Tepoztlán because they appreciate the local customs, traditions, and festivals. As a result people are very nice and courteous to you as a guest in town.

I am reminded of the slogan for Austin, Texas – “Keep Austin Weird.” You want to keep what makes your community unique and Tepoztlán does this very well. It is different than any place you will visit in Mexico. These elements taken together as a whole certainly make Tepoztlan safe but also a very authentic and wonderful place to visit.

Okay. Off my soapbox for a while. Next posts will be cooking related!

Peace, Love, and Good Food!

Chef Ana Garcia

As Safe as Kokomo?

La Villa Bonita — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:39:00 +0000

Quick Quiz:

Which town has the lowest murder rate?
A. Omaha, Nebraska
B. Toledo, Ohio
C. Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico
D. Kokomo, Indiana

Okay. Trick question. There are two right answers: Tepoztlán is tied with Kokomo for the lowest rate over Omaha and Toledo. What? It can’t be. Is crime out of control in Omaha and Toledo? Will Anderson Cooper be hitting the “mean streets” of Kokomo in a helmet and flack jacket for his next piece on “60 Minutes?” Should the state department issue a warning about travel to America’s heartland? Of course not. They are all safe places . . . . and so is Tepoztlán. They are not only great towns but idyllic communities in which to live, visit or just be.

So, you may have wondered where I have been with my lack of blog updates. What have my legion of marketing minions been doing with their spare time (bad Robb! bad Robb!)? Thankfully, we have been receiving a steady flow of guests and with my three kids (four, if you count the big one), I just haven’t had the time to keep up on the social media. I am sure many of you know the feeling – you know you should be doing it but real conversations and real people get in the way. I guess I have got to make the time in this day-and-age for the “face,” the “tweet,” the “pin,” the “blogidty-blog” and the “i-don’t-know-what.” If my children would just surrender my iPhone every now and then, I might be able to do more. But I promise I will be more communicative from now on. Really.

I have wanted to do this post for a while. We have had a great flow of reservations this year primarily due to studious foodies who do their homework about Tepoztlán and the quality of the experience at La Villa Bonita. We have been very busy. We still get the occasional call asking about security – which is ABSOLUTELY FINE. We are happy to explain what a wonderful place this is. The problem is that there is no reference or perspective to give you over the phone that would accurately portray an authentic and secure place like Tepoztlán. So, we wanted to be able to offer a quick answer that would get right to the point. With Robb doing his research, we can now respond, “as safe as Kokomo.”

Everyone who lives here knows that Tepoztlán is a wonderful place. The community is very tightly knit, the town maintains its traditions, great farmer’s market, vibrant artistic community, wonderful children’s orchestra, even a little league baseball team. Life goes on here as it has for generations. Robb, wanted the actual hard data to show with numbers how safe Tepoztlán is so he decided to start with the local tourism board. The person in charge of tourism in Tepoztlán then petitioned the state for the official information who passed it along to Robb. This is the first time this information has been shared. Since this is a small town sometimes people don´t think about what it represents outside of the town. The first reaction from the local functionaries was “We all know how it is here. Is this a surprise?” However, it is much easier to explain how nice a place this is with real data and comparisons than with anecdotes.

Tepoztlán, as a town and county, has a lower homicide rate than pretty much every major city in the US. Actually for 2011, there was not one murder inside of the town of Tepoztlán and only three in the entire county which has a population of over over 45,000.

Okay. Lets take a step back and understand how this works. Very special thanks to my Robb for putting this together, because this is not my forté. I cook — I don’t crunch numbers. The actual town of Tepoztlán has a population of about 29,000 people and Tepoztlán is the county seat for Tepoztlán county (or “municipio” in Spanish) which includes other towns such as San Juan Tlacotenco, Santiago Tepetatla, Santo Domingo Ocotitlán, San Andres de la Cal, Santa Catarina, Ixcatepéc, Amatlán. The total population of Tepoztlán county is about 45,000 people almost exactly the same as our friends in Kokomo.

The murder rate is the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughter calculated per 100,000 residents. Obviously the actual town of Tepoztlán has a rate of 0 for 2011. The only incident that took place in the town of Tepoztlán in 2011 was the tragic death of a worker in the market who was hit by a drunk driver early on a Sunday morning. For international statistical purposes that is not considered a murder even though in Mexico it is. If you make the calculation for the county of Tepoztlán, you reach a number of 6.6 – same as Kokomo. Lets take a look at some sample city rates for 2010 (we had to use these 2010 numbers because the FBI’s official stats for 2011 aren’t released yet, which surprised me):

New Orleans 49.1

St. Louis 40.5

Baltimore 34.8

Newark, NJ 32.1

Washington, DC 21.9

Kansas City, MO 21.1

Buffalo, NY 20.7

Cincinnati 20.5

Cleveland 19.0

Atlanta 17.3

Omaha, NE 7.3

Toledo, OH 7.3

Some smaller communities that are the size of Tepoztlán county:

Hot Springs, AR 17.5

Manchester, CT 14.0

Lancaster, PA 9.1

Hattiesburg, MS 7.5

Great Falls, MT 6.7

Kokomo, IN 6.6

I have never visited Kokomo, but I am sure they are a great people in a beautiful town. After visiting their their site http://www.visitkokomo.org it looks like a fabulous place that I would love to visit. The pictures portray an idyllic small town America that time forgot. Kokomo was named “Community of the Year” by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce as well the first car was created in Kokomo in 1894 by Ellwood Haynes. They even have a Kokomo mobile app for Iphone! Very impressive.

Apart from the statistics, there are some similarities between the two towns: Tepoztlán is a very attractive town that time forgot with a flow of tourism, local eateries, great shopping, an artistic community, a vibrant farmer’s market, and a population that treasures its history, customs and traditions just like Kokomo (okay, we don’t have a mobile app but you don’t have a pyramid, eh). I think fate (or Robb) has brought our two cities together and I am going to actively propose a sister city connection. Two historic, artistic, fun, and safe places coming together. What do you think, Kokomo?

My next post coming soon will discuss why Tepoztlán is such a authentic, safe and great place to visit.

Peace, love, and good food!

Chef Ana

Remembering a Good Friend

La Villa Bonita — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:55:00 +0000

Chuy with Agustin

I don’t ever think I would consider myself a “pet person.” When Robb asked me to accept this rolly-polly big ball of a puppy after the return from our honeymoon almost 13 years ago, I couldn’t help but say yes. Robb made the classic pitch that ever “kid” makes to his parents from age 5 and up — “I will take care of him and feed him and he will be the best dog ever.”

Chuy was really our first child. He was a great dog and I grew to love him. Chuy moved with us from Tampico to Cuernavaca, and finally to Tepoztlan. I still remember in Tampico when Robb would take him to the golf course as he had trained Chuy to look for balls. Of course, he also enjoyed finding other people’s balls which some people didn’t appreciate as well as chasing ducks but he did his job very well. He would actually jump and bark towards the television screen when golf was on to try and find the ball.

As well, I recall how protective he was of children. When Matias was young and learning how to swim, Chuy would jump into the pool and swim circles around him until Matias grabbed his tail. Chuy would then pull him out. He never was very comfortable with small children in the pool and would not relax until they were safe.

As many of our guests know at La Villa Bonita, Chuy was the first to greet you upon arrival. He made lots of friends with our guests. Chuy was with us on the first day that we opened and was a true part of our family.

Chuy passed away this Saturday at almost 13 years of age. He had recently been diagnosed with a couple of serious and inoperable conditions and things deteriorated rapidly from there. This Saturday when the boys went to play baseball in Mexico City, I noted that he was not doing well. I called Robb and informed him. Robb said they would come home as fast as they could.

When Robb arrived Chuy was not doing well. He was still responsive but lying on the floor in the house. Robb called the vet to put him to sleep as he didn’t want him to suffer. The boys were very afraid and upset but Robb cleaned up Chuy so that they could stay with him for a while and say goodbye. Chuy tried to get up but couldn’t. After they said their goodbye and hugged him, Robb felt that the boys should go over to the neighbors before the vet arrived, but Matias insisted on staying and stroked his head, telling him that he was a good dog and that we loved him very much. Matias was very brave and comforted him until he passed away 20 minutes later. By the time the vet arrived, he had left us.

I know that sometimes pet owners project their human emotions to their pets but I truly believe that Chuy stayed around just long enough to say goodbye to Robb and the kids. It was just his character – faithful until the end.

We all will miss you, Chuy.

The "Commonality" of Food

La Villa Bonita — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Many people ask me, how is it that your guests seem to get along so well when they come from all different walks of life, different ages, different places? I have to tell you that I have been offering my culinary vacation packages for over ten years and it is amazing and very gratifying to watch every week how my guests come together and become friends.

The holidays for us are always busy with guests, and of course . . .the holidays!. This year was no exception. We had guests from Virginia, New York, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and even Tabasco, Mexico and Australia. This year we had women traveling by themselves, friends traveling together, families with adult children and their spouses, a family of three generations – grandmother, mother and 2 year old granddaughter, and couples. The amazing thing is people who perhaps under different circumstances would not have a reason to say “hello” on the street, become such great friends so quickly making their first mole at La Villa Bonita at what is supposed to be such a hectic and stressful time during the holidays.

I attribute it to the “commonality” of food and the culture that goes along with it. If you enjoy good food, like to travel, and are open to appreciate another culture, you have so much in common with other people who on the surface seem so different. In this day and age, we tend to compartmentalize and categorize everyone. Society gives you a label and you are supposed to act in accord when in reality there are so many other areas of common ground that people of different walks of life share.

When you come to La Villa Bonita, you have made a conscious decision to not “veg on the beach” during your vacations. You appreciate learning about another culture and are open to try new things. You are a “learned” person — not necessarily with titles or degrees — but with a thirst for knowledge and new experiences. And, of course, you must love food. If you have all of those qualities, you are very likely to enjoy this type of vacation at La Villa Bonita and have lots of things in common with our guests. But there is no template for who our “normal” guest is with respect to age, race, sex, or nationality.

I have to admit that I was very pleased this year because it was such a great cross-section of all the guests of different walks of life that come together making their first tortilla from scratch. It makes my job so much fun to see how people of such seemingly diverse paths converge and enjoy themselves.

Peace, love and good food,
Chef Ana

Dia de los Muertos Week, Oct. 31-Nov. 6

La Villa Bonita — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:03:00 +0000

My Favorite Week is Coming Up – Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos week is traditionally our most popular week of the year – even in front of our popular Christmas Week. It is a time of year that you really get to see and do some great things that we do not normally do. First, you get to make Pan de Muertos with the master baker of Tepoztlan. He still uses a wood-fired stove that creates some of the most delicious artisan pastry you have every tried. As well, we will create our own altar and the neighbors with their little children come and view it. This week as well, we will make traditional dishes for Tepoztlan during Muertos in our open-air kitchen. Our excursion are a bit different as we visit villages nearby to see how the cemeteries are decorated with an incredible variety of flowers. If you are a true foodie and would like to participate in a unique cultural experience, you cannot miss Dia de los Muertos week. We have only a few rooms left and would love to have you join us at La Villa Bonita.

Peace, love, and good food!

Chef Ana

Spice up your Superbowl TV Tour of California Feb. 4-6

La Villa Bonita — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:01:00 +0000

I have to admit. I enjoy the live television appearances. They are fun and unpredictable. The backstage is always busy with stars, production staff, and on-air people running around. The first time I appeared on KTLA, there was a big breaking news story (a shooting in a synagogue) that took control of the show with live reports from the scene. I was up and down all morning getting ready for a teaser for the segment. The LA mayor made a late press conference that caused my segment to be bumped. I thought Robb was going to die. Poor guy, he collectively takes on all our stress. We had a plane to catch at 1 so we filmed a segment as if I were in the studio the following day. After such a crazy morning, it is hard to snap to attention after 4 hours but within the first few seconds I caught my second wind. Live TV is fun.

KTLA asked me to come back to do a segment on the Posadas which we did in December. This time I knew what to expect and came prepared. The environment in the studio is hectic but informal at the same time. As I was setting up my display, a guy with sunglasses and a leather jacket asked me what I was doing. I have to admit in that moment I had no idea who he was but we exchanged pleasantries and I proceeded answer his questions about the Posadas and La Villa Bonita. I was told later by Robb that this was Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon who was promoting his new Christmas album. They were backstage warming up with their guitars. I have to admit, I can be a little clueless about US pop references but my husband serenaded me with his a capella version of “I Can’t Stop This Feelin’ Anymore” and I figured it out. Just then a swarm of people came in on their way to the studio and in the middle was James Cameron. Yes, Robb had to tell me who this was as well, but that is what makes him such a good partner, trip planner, executive assistant, sleazy agent, and “chief bottle washer” (American sayings are such fun! Really, bottle washing?) . James Cameron gave his interview and left with his herd of suited people with clipboards. Robb tried to pitch him on the idea that the “Ana Garcia” avatar would have been a great addition (this part is not true). If have to admit, the craziness of this environment is fun.

This time around we are doing a real California tour with Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Everyone does somewhat Mexican-inspired super bowl dishes so I thought it would be a good idea to offer a segment on authentic Mexican dishes for your Superbowl party. With a wide array of IMUSA products, I will make a fabulous Guacamole Chinelo with fruit, home made totopos, a black bean, chipotle and chorizo dip, golden taquitos filled with potato and parsley, micheladas with Modelo Especial, and a drunken salsa. Click for all the Spice up your Superbowl Recipes.

If you are not in one of these cities, you can still watch the show online either with a live feed as is the case with the San Francisco show at 3 PST on there website or you can watch a pre-recorded stream from the same site. Here is the schedule for the appearances:

February 4th, KTLA’s Morning News at 9. Two Hall-Of-Fame Football Players are supposed to help me here during the segment. Robb will once again have to give me context as to who they are and I am not even sure that will help. It has not been confirmed yet if they will be donning those “stretchy pants” that football players like so much.
February 5th, ABC7 The View from the Bay in San Francisco (3:00 pm PST). This show is going to be a lot of fun because it has a live audience. The show is hosted by Spencer Christian of “Good Morning America” fame and Janelle Wang. Thanks to Betsy Cordes for the introduction here! Wish I could stay longer in San Francisco because I love the food scene there but we are off to San Diego right after the show. By the way, if you want to be a part of the live audience you can do so by calling (415)-954-7733.
February 6th, KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego (9:00 am PST). Sorry Chargers fans. We were hoping that they would have advanced farther. Better luck next year. I will still try to give you a tasty super bowl party with these dishes.

So, I hope you watch the segments or better yet if you can be in the audience for the View from the Bay that would be great. You can heckle me . . . Okay. No, don’t heckle me.

Peace, Love and Good Food

Ana Garcia

Christmas Tree Tradition in Tres Marias

La Villa Bonita — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:38:00 +0000

I have never been a big fan of the Christmas tree. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and decorating my house fully for the season, but the tree has never been high on my list. I don’t like the fake trees and I feel bad about buying a real tree that has been trucked in from who-knows-where. My husband convinced me that there were local trees that you cut yourself that support some worthy rural areas that are trying to create sustainable businesses that are good for the environment. I also have two young boys and would like to create a tradition with them of going to get the tree and decorating it.

In Mexico, the cutting of a tree is serious business. All trees are federally protected. If you do not have an official permit to cut a tree you can be pulled over for violating federal law. In Morelos, my husband found one of only two state-designated Christmas tree farms. This one was located close to Tres Marias in the mountains.

We gave a call to Fidelina Vasquez the propietor of the farm and met her in the intersection of the old highway to Mexico City that crossects the road to Huitzilac. She joined us in our car to guide us to where the trees are. She brought her handsaw, twine, machete and a very charming disposition. We had a wonderful conversation about her farm and the type of trees that she grows. She struck me as a very hard working and entrepreneurial person. The boys were very excited as we travailed the dirt road up in the mountains. She explained to us that the variety that she has is a native one called ayacahuite and is very renewable variety. Fidelina had been taking classes on how to care for the trees, grow them, and how to re-grow them not only from seedlings but also from the stump that is left after it is cut.

We selected our tree and wrapped it in twine. Fidelina told us that it takes about 5-8 years for the tree to be Christmas tree size from a sapling. However, the stump will usually grow two “new” trees which cuts the growth time by 2-3 years.

After bunding up the tree, my husband pulled the tree to the car and we loaded up the family. We took Fidelina back to her home and she gave us a special factura or receipt saying that this was an authorized tree cut.

The drive back from the tree field was very picturesque with the drying stacks of hay.

Here is our finished product at home at La Villa Bonita. It is a very charming tree. Not your usual Christmas tree. For those of you in southern Mexico City, Cuernavaca or Tepoztlan it is an easy drive to pick out your Christmas tree next year and you will be supporting the local economy as well as a very hard-working and entrepreneurial woman. Fidelina Vazquez Tel: 01(739)393-0267.

Where am I?

La Villa Bonita — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Many of you may be wondering where I am! I am still here! I have been traveling very much over the past 5 months on projects with my sponsors, television appearances, and in furtherance of my own telelvision series in the US. All in all, it has been a crazy year but we are all looking forward to a great 2010. I can tell you I am very happy to be home and looking forward as well to receiving guests at La Villa Bonita in January and February. Time to get back to what I do best — teach my traditional Mexican family dishes to my guests and open windows into the richness of Mexican culture.

We had a great response to our sale for Christmas and New Year sale but it was restricted because of very high airfare over the holidays. We did notice, however, a great drop in airfare for January and February from hubs in the US and Canada. Since we are finally home and want you to join us, we extended our $875 USD off per room sale to January and February dates. It is almost like getting your airfare for free! Escape the cold at LVB this winter!

Peace, Love, and Good Food

Ana Garcia

Bringing the Family Together Over the Kitchen Table: Tips on Getting Kids to Appreciate Good Food

La Villa Bonita — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:24:00 +0000

One of the things I am proudest of in my short 5 years of “parentdom” is getting my kids at a very early age to appreciate a wide variety of food. I was very proud of my 5 and 1-year-old on a recent family trip to Maine to visit our good friends, Cookie and Tony. As a family, we love eating the best local food or specialty dishes we can find. Of course, in Maine you must have lobster, blueberries, wonderful summer vegetables, and mussels. My kids ate everything with a passion along with harvesting their own mussels and devouring them for dinner.

I am not a child psychologist, expert or anything of the sort but I have made a few observations along the way that may be helpful. This blog entry is an introduction into what we will explore in upcoming blogs in more detail.

1. Its Up to You. Parents give signals to their kids all the time. Little facial gestures or unintended messages that you probably don’t even notice. Studies have shown that even small babies have incredible facial-recognition ability. Trust me, they are watching you! If you are picky eater as a parent, your kids will be too. If you express disdain about eating a particular food, they will copy you — especially young children. As a parent, you need to take the lead. If you expose your children to a wide variety of foods at an early age and express your enjoyment in eating something good, your children will pick up on it.

2. Start Young. Don’t limit your child’s palate at an early age. Expose them to fresh food. I see a lot of young eaters become picky when they first start on solid foods. I know it is convenient to purchase the supermarket baby food. After a long day of work, it is totally understandable. I have used them myself especially when traveling, but creating your own baby food ,even out of the simplest things, will start them out early on the right path. There is an early window of opportunity to get your kids to have an adventurous palate. In my experience, that age is between 1-3 years old. It is harder to change bad habits once they reach the age of saying “no” randomly and expressing their independence.

3. No Kids Menu. None of my children eat off the kids menu, but not because I say so. Chicken fingers, hot dogs, pizza or other dummied-down dishes for your kids are convenient pretexts for placating picky eaters but just plain bland. My husband and I have traveled with our 5-year-old since he was very young. When we would go out to a restaurant, Robb and I would order for ourselves and Matias would eat from both of our dishes on his own plate. Now at age 5, he refuses eat off the kid’s menu and actually cried when one of our friends ordered from it on his behalf. Kids enjoy good food too!

4. Cook with Them. Kids love to cook and they will appreciate the effort of preparing food if they have participated in making it themselves. My eldest loves to claim that he is “a good cooker.” Giving kids the opportunity to cook with you is an easy way to get them motivated to eat well and appreciate the effort. Finding small tasks and developing knife skills will give them the ability to actually help. The Montessori system in school helps a lot! This is my eldest helping Tony put the lobsters in the pot.

5. Show Them The Source. This is one of the most important elements. Kids need to understand that food doesn’t naturally come in shrink-wrapped plastic. Showing children where vegetables and fruit actually come from with the local grower is a great way to introduce them to the concept. It is fun for kids to pick their own produce in the summer or better yet when you have a little garden in your back yard. When we were in Maine, we went to the Lobster pound to see how they are harvested. As well, we waded into the mud to gather our own mussels. Both kids loved getting muddy, trying to find the right-sized mussels. It gave them context to what they were eating and a great story to tell.

6. Appreciate Where You Are. We try to go on a family vacation every summer and eating locally is one of our favorite things. Getting the best of where you are is important, not only to appreciate the joys of traveling, but to expanding your child’s palate. Don’t just plan what tourist sites you are going to see, talk about what you are going to eat long before you get to your destination. My son was talking about the mussels, one of his favorites, long before we arrived in Maine. He enjoyed his meal even more after he harvest, cleaned and helped prepare them.

Coming up! The recipe that we enjoyed in Maine — Lobster Enchiladas with Pipian (Mole Verde). It was so GOOOOOD! Picture below.

As always . . . Peace, Love and Good Food.

Chef Ana