Kids Cuisine

There are often discussions and tips about going organic with your kids. In fact, there are entire lines of packaged baby foods, toddler snacks, and children’s juices that are organic. It’s sometimes interesting to me how little emphasis there is on feeding your children meals with locally-grown ingredients.

I won’t even get into the debate over which is better. Would you rather give your child an organic fruit that was picked a while ago and shipped a thousand miles, or a local fruit that you bought directly at the farm? Personally, I would rather have the local produce and I think you can taste the difference.

As it gets colder outside and there are fewer locally-grown options, that gets tougher. There is probably still time to find some late crops, and likely plenty of time to find local meats.

If your local grocery store doesn’t carry produce that is locally grown, ask them to. Also ask them to use their produce department signs to say the source of the produce. You can also probably travel not too far from your home to a local farm, and you might even still find a farmer’s market nearby that’s open.

There are some fall and winter crops you may still be able to find: apples, pumpkins, root vegetables, greens, broccoli. Feeding your children what is local and what is in season also teaches them better lessons about food production than frozen French fries and canned corn ever could. There are also many other items that might not be obvious, from chocolate and cheeses to grains and bath products.

It also goes beyond health issues, and back to supporting your local economy. Buying locally can help reduce the fast deterioration of the number of farms in the U.S. and in your region, which has the side effect of reducing the open space and undeveloped land. The ripple effects are pretty substantial, and preserving open spaces will have a direct impact on the quality of life for your children.

If your child is old enough, explain your buying decisions to him or her. Take your child to the farm, or to the store, and talk about where the food was grown. Let your child help you plant your own produce, even if it’s just basil in a window planter.

Of course, I’m sure I will use lots of food that isn’t locally grown, isn’t in season, and isn’t fresh, unfortunately. I have never figured out how to can foods (although it sounds cool!). I do freeze some things.

It can just be too difficult to work with what’s available now, and kids will crave what they crave. But I do try to go local whenever possible, and I do go out of my way to do so. I have been striving to seek out local products more and more.

Photo of child eating an apple, © Gabriel Aybar.