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Talk food
I’m not sure we know how to talk about food. Everywhere I turn there are embarrassed mumblings about calories, weight loss and cottage cheese or virtuous accolades for eating crunchy celery, three apples and a vegetable smoothie. And then there’s the moaning mum who really doesn’t fancy doing the Tesco run, and how about the silent restaurant diners who eat, make no comment and leave. I can’t go to a restaurant without excitedly working out loud what I want to eat, then giving a running commentary on what I’ve chosen and still continuing to talk food once I’ve left. I certainly get my money’s worth from a restaurant experience. OK, so it’s probably like talking shop for Stephane and me but in truth I know we would still talk food even if we didn’t run a restaurant.
Stephane was brought up listening to food discussions. His family are experts at talking about what they are going to eat. They don’t do it in a pretentious “master-chef” style or in a trendy, foodie manner so prolific in the English restaurant scene. No, they do it in the same sort of way that a football enthusiast would talk about a game. They’re not professionals, not particularly knowledgeable but they are deeply passionate. Food falls into a French family’s conversation as easily as weather does in an English household. And this is why children grow up talking comfortably about food.
We’ve got to learn to talk food if our children are to stand any chance of developing a healthy relationship with mealtimes. This means talking about favourite meals, talking about the food on the table, not silently devouring it. Think of it in the same way as talking about your favourite TV programme or music.
A friend of ours brought Pierre home in his car the other day.
“Do you like Santana?” asked Pierre.
“Have you got any George Benson? I like George Benson” he went on.
Our friend was astonished by such questions from a seven-year old. I suppose they do sound rather quaint but Pierre, quite naturally, has picked up his musical tastes from his parents, in very much the same way as his food tastes. He listens, comments and usually makes a good choice. I’m not sure how long this will last but in terms of his taste buds he’s on the right track.