Former French president and World War II leader Charles de Gaulle was once quoted as saying; “How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?” I’m not interested in governing a nation, but I am interested in cheese or, more precisely, how to get my six year old daughter eating it.
Like most kids she is fussy about some kids of food. We don’t struggle too much with fruit. Vegetables can be a challenge but we’re usually on solid ground with broccoli, peas and carrots.
The one sticking point is cheese. Okay, yes, it is high in fat and should only be eaten in moderation, but a diet without cheese is limiting.
We can’t give Helen cheese and crackers. Anything with ricotta or mascarpone is off the menu and so I haven’t made cannelloni, one of my favourite dishes, in years.
I see Helen at kids’ parties where cheese sandwiches are often on the menu and she ignores them. It also makes it that little bit more challenging to put her lunch box together each day because of her dislike for fromage.
Maybe it’s simply because I have French heritage I find it difficult to appreciate a life without cheese. Actually, no, that’s got nothing to do with it. It’s because I have to create all the meals and make her lunch box each day and missing out anything with cheese makes it that bit more difficult.
Only thing is, there’s a small glimmer of hope. We were going round the supermarket the other day and she spotted Laughing Cow on the shelf. She wanted to try some.
I think this desire to try Laughing Cow came largely from the fact one of her school friends eats it. Helen was actually quite excited at the prospect and was well informed about the product. She told me that under the sticker on each triangle you’ll find a letter from the alphabet, something I didn’t know.
We got home and, to my amazement, she ate it. It’s featured in her lunch box several times now and been issued as an occasional snack.
I very much doubt Charles de Gaulle was thinking of Laughing Cow when he made his remark. In an ideal world we wouldn’t be eating Laughing Cow because I try, as much as humanly possible, to avoid such heavily processed food.
On this occasion I’m making an exception. If it encourages my daughter to adopt a more liberal policy towards eating cheese I’m all for it.
Santé!
What are your experiences? What foods do your children refuse to eat and how have you got around this? Please leave a comment, I’d love to know.
Pic credit; United States Government. Copyright free.
8 thoughts on “How do you get a fussy eater to like cheese?”
We have been weaning for a few months now, she loves cheese which is great. Sweet potato is her favorite although broccoli is a massive no no. I can still remember it sprayed all over the kitchen!
FGunny that, brocolli is somehitng my kids have always eaten. Good luck with the weaning.
firstly from a nutritional point of view I would not worry if she is eating yoghurt and drinking milk.
Laughing cow is a start. Does it come in a tub a tub cheese is an easy option to melt and make an instant cheese sauce with, involve her in that process and you have macaroni cheese or a similar dish that she may well try. I often think it is a matter of leaving them to it, make your food the way you want and make hers without the cheese, one day she will want to taste yours.
I remember daughter No2 going through a phase of not eating carrots, I remember the little horror even picking them grated out of mince!!! like eer other phase it comes and goes and dont stress about it, most of them grow up nutritionally well balanced.
I LOVE your ideas! I am so going to do the macaroni cheese thing. Thanks for the suggestions.
Isn’t cheese the go-to for fussy eaters? Laughing Cow is a start. It is cheese and should give her a taste for the evil, fatty, moreish stuff. I used to be a cardiac nurse, so should probably limit it more than I do, but my kids get a lot of cheese. They don’t get a lot of meat, so finding other source of protein on non-meat days can be a challenge. My go-to protein sources are peanut butter, nuts (I realise peanut butter is nuts), proper, strained Greek yoghurt, chickpeas, eggs (for my younger – my elder can’t stand them) and cheese. They’re not too fussy. They eat a wide variety of stuff, and the they have the odd thing they don’t like. If there’s anything they don’t like, I don’t give it to them. One day their taste buds will change… Cheese is a tricky one though… Good luck!
Thank you Fiona. I hope she will get to lioking cheese in the end!
I really like the De Gaulle quote about cheese, and have somewhat gratuitously thrown it into at least one lecture I’ve delivered on French presidents. Our son seems to have quite expensive tastes in cheese at the moment. I can understand your attitude to ‘la vache qui rit’, I’m certainly not a big fan of it either.
I thikn you are quite correct to use that quote in your lectures! I can think of a few other quotes to use about De Gaulle as well, none of them particularly complimentry!