Could A Vietnam Trip Help My Kids Become Adventurous Eaters?

My son Xavi started reception last September. He told me little about his first term of school beyond his lunch choice: jacket potato. Every day. Sometimes cheese or beans, sometimes tuna. Meanwhile, my seven-year-old daughter Astrid’s culinary habits are rarely more adventurous. Her favourite food is instant noodles in chicken stock; if I add in peas or broccoli, her favourite veg, she complains.

Until she was about two, I was proud that we ate the same meals: salmon and broccoli, casseroles, salads. I always presumed I’d have adventurous eaters; when other parents told of their children’s love for sushi and curry, I’d look forward to sharing similar experiences. But when it comes to spice, only my youngest daughter, Juno, age one, will countenance it, the older two children even shun gingerbread men.

I know Astrid’s diet isn’t as varied as I’d like because I felt relieved when she started liking pasta pesto because it gave us more dinner options. She’s toying with vegetarianism, says fish reminds her of her (now sadly dead) pets, though rarely turns down sausages and broccoli.

Nutritional therapist Alex Allan reassured me that my children’s diet might be richer than I give credit. 'A jacket potato is a great food for a five-year-old,' she says. 'It’s a good source of energy and fibre. Paired with protein: tuna, cheese or chicken and some veggies it’s a great meal. Research shows that infants tend to more willingly accept new foods than two-year-olds, who in turn will more willingly accept new foods than five-year-olds. Some infants may respond well to new foods after just one exposure.  Whereas, with older children the process of developing a preference for a new food may take longer – four and five-year-olds may take as many as 15 exposures. Gentle persistence is key.'

Dr Federica Amati, Head Nutritionist at science and nutrition company Zoe and author of Every Body Should Know This and Recipes for a Better Menopause, says cooking with children nurtures a positive food relationship. “It’s an important life skill that will help them eat more healthily into adulthood,” she believes. “It’s also an opportunity to bond and spend time together and it exposes children to different foods and flavours, colours and textures. It encourages us as caregivers to cook from scratch and explain what food can do for us to make us feel good, give us energy, nourish our gut microbiome and keep our bodies strong. It’s fun for everyone involved.”

Most people at this point would get their children more involved in cooking at home - perhaps even go so far as to enrol on a family cookery course. But an irresistible offer came my way: to write about travelling to Vietnam with my family. Could a trip to south-east Asia and an introduction to delicious pho, banh mi and summer rolls convince the children of the delights of herbs and strong flavours? Would they return with eating habits that go beyond bland? Might I get excited about cooking dinner again?

We travelled to Phu Qhoc where Astrid joined me in eating pho for breakfast: noodle soup with beef broth, beansprouts, fragrant mint and Thai basil. Admittedly, I sold it to her as Vietnam’s version of instant noodles, downplaying the hard labour involved, but she loved it - and ordered it regularly through our trip.

We cooked with chefs at Azerai Ke Ga Bay, making simple summer rolls, the perfect meal for young hands to assemble, on a terrace overlooking the beach where we flew kites into the wind coming from the South China Sea. We layered thin rice noodles, slices of cucumber and carrot, pork and prawns. The children skipped the condiments which add sweetness and spice, but were excited to taste the food they’d layered and rolled. Amati suggests recreating similar experiences at home - and emphasises that simple dishes are a good place to start. 'Children will often taste bits of food during prep,' she says. 'Making easy, fun things like pizza, fruit salads, crudités and hummus, smoothies, yogurt bowls and banana cake is quick and easy, and always makes the final product tastier, cheaper and healthier than buying it in a shop.' The children also iced cupcakes with towers of coloured squirty cream which they found hilarious.

But it wasn’t just making food that helped Astrid and Xavi become more excited about flavours. We visited a dragon fruit farm near Ke Ga Bay, where the fringed bushes were heavy with the bright pink fruit, speckled with seeds inside, that they’d never seen before. Some fruit had white flesh, some a dark beetroot red, and the children loved comparing. All their mouths were stained by the time we left the farm. At Azerai Can Tho, on an islet in the Mekong Delta with ancient Banyan trees, we all ate dragon fruit dessert with sesame - one of the most delicious taste combinations I can imagine, made more so because we all shared the experience. One morning, we woke at dawn to sail along the Mekong to visit a floating market, where traders leant over the side of their boats to sell melons and pineapples, coconuts and noodles.

While Astrid and Xavi might now know more than most about spaghetti bolognaise in tourist resorts across southern Vietnam, they also became excited about new flavours, trying broths and regional fish dishes, one cooked in a pot with a treacle-like sauce. They continued to shun spicy food, but ate lots of garlic for its mosquito-repelling qualities. Natalie Yerlett, specialist paediatric dietitian with 20 years experience and mother of three, says babies and toddlers’ taste buds are more sensitive and widely distributed than that of older children or adults. 'Strong or spicy flavours can sometimes be overwhelming or actually painful for some,' she explains, recommending gradually including aromatic flavours, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, mint, coriander, into a child’s diet. 'Building this base of variety and aroma will help to encourage a more adventurous palate as they get older,' she says.

We eat together at home, but sometimes it’s a rushed affair. Spending a fortnight with lengthy dinners helped us prepare for mealtimes by automatically packing activities like colouring. The children also joined us in tasting each others’ dishes. Amati suggests inviting favourite toys to join the meal if children are younger. “There’s nothing like feeding a stuffed panda to encourage laughs and trying new foods,” she suggests. “Invite friends and family over too, make mealtime a social occasion and don’t worry about it being perfect: like everything else, sharing family meals is a habit that needs to be nurtured. Treat every eating occasion as a way to encourage them to try something new, without any pressure. If they don’t want to try it, that’s fine and if they do try something new, don’t make a huge deal out of it, instead asking them if they enjoyed it and what they liked or didn’t like about it.”

Yerlett suggests making supermarket trips as exciting as the floating market. 'Make new fun food choices, choose a "fruit of the week" together or have a bag that your toddler packs their choices in at the till and get them to pay with your card at the end,' she suggests. 'Exposure to these food related experiences helps children to feel confident to try eating more variety of foods.'

I was skeptical whether our newfound family foodiness would last, but the children’s interest in mealtimes has continued - at least sometimes. They are now regularly involved in cooking everything from cinnamon buns to tuna pasta. While they’re still not especially adventurous eaters, they’re much more likely to at least try new dishes. And when all else fails, we can always make pho.