At the risk of sounding like a certain French author or that annoying aunt whose nieces eat everything, mine really do. Mostly. Among them, to varying degrees, sure. I chalk it up to all of us, cousins, Great Uncles, significant others, being in the kitchen constantly and the kids being where we are. They see cooking, they see a wide variety of foods, they get our appreciation for things thoughtfully and lovingly made.
That said, despite being introduced to curries as soon as they ate solid foods, they still gravitate to simpler things, even if those things seem sophisticated. Squid, olives, strong cheeses? All favourites of my friend’s daughter, though she won’t eat a pizza with 5 toppings; in that case, just cheese please. Bitter melon curry that I am still acquiring a taste for myself? My cousin’s twin daughters eat it without flinching, but their favourite thing that my mother makes for them is a soft-boiled egg on plain rice. There’s something to be said for this simplicity—it’s not about a palette that hasn’t matured, I think it’s about not really being into a complex meal, and who doesn’t feel like that at times. Plus, some of the best recipes ever are no more than an instruction to break a very fresh egg into a buttered pan and cook it slowly. You could consider this kind of food “simple”, or a proper celebration of a single ingredient or texture, or weeknight cooking, or all of the above. Everything in this issue has been devoured by the kids around me with gusto, and I think if you have kids, based on my surveys, they are likely to enjoy the recipes here. Still, of the recipes here, the ones I’ve created were never created with a kid in mind. They were just simple enough to be fully appreciated. Get the recipes and stories here: lesauce.com/app.
