Pondering Baby's First Meal
Anthony Silverbrow on the Guardian's Word of Mouth blog contemplates what his daughter's first solid meal should be:
There is surprisingly little independent guidance (i.e., not written by those trying to flog a series of books) on what babies should be fed. There's a mini-industry around last meals, there's a lot of gnashing of teeth about what to give early meals, but first solid meals seem to be overlooked.
Is any meal more significant than our first? For the food obsessed, does it get any more existential than pondering what to pass between our lips for the very first time? I have a gut feeling that the first meal will determine how that child approaches food for the rest of their lives. I'm interested to hear what you fed your baby as their first meal and why.
I haven't had to wrestle with this yet, but I'm thinking of feeding lil' Pepperoni Kuban puréed pizza as his/her first solid bite. I wonder if that will fly.
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22 Comments:
London Broil.
It will ensure that your child crushes its enemies and lives to hear the lamentations of their women.
Provided your child is either Conan The Barbarian.
redfish at 7:33PM on 10/28/08
I suggest Red Savina Habanero pepper, pureed with some Fage yogurt.
But seriously, the kid probably has had some bugs already for
snacking that the parents didn't know about. So the first meal big deal
is all in Papas' head.
tinytim at 7:59PM on 10/28/08
Our little bambino got sweet potatoes as her first meal. Rich in color and flavor-can't go wrong. We also let her *taste* not "eat" any manor of things, fried chicken, hard apple cider, greek yogurt, fine wine, half sour kosher dill pickles.....ya know, the usual infant fare!
mhurst826 at 8:54PM on 10/28/08
hmmm... how about horchata?
onedaylingers at 8:56PM on 10/28/08
Roasted veal bone marrow with a pinch of sea salt - the same thing every mother first feeds her child, don't they?.
The toast and parsley salad have to wait for more teeth to chew.
PerkyMac at 11:26PM on 10/28/08
my mom told me mine was yogurt. i was in dairy-obsessed vermont, and that is what my pediatritian told her would be a good idea, because it's dairy, like breast milk. but whatever. blah, blah. people freak out and say yogurt has too much bacteria or whatever, but i'm alive, and i also love dairy more than any food grop. probably a coincidence though.
delilah at 2:19AM on 10/29/08
An avocado or a sweet potato would be my choice. Maybe mix one with some bacon? You can never go wrong with bacon..
Tahitinova at 2:56AM on 10/29/08
I have yet to have a little one, so the concern for the little one's first meal is hardly top of mind...but I know that my mom fed me whatever she was putting on the table that night for the rest of the family. Down the blender it went and I was enjoying everything from steak and potatoes, to knackwurst and sauerkraut all before I could chew.
CarolynEats at 9:55AM on 10/29/08
When my daughter was a toddler I didn't follow any guidelines other than "nothing too small or too big", "nothing overseasoned or spicy" and "everything well-cooked." Other than that, I just let her eat whatever she wanted. When she was on baby food, she was practically a vegetarian, preferring veggies to meat or even fruit. But when she was ready for solids, she wanted to eat whatever I was eating. So, that meant mashed potatoes, steamed veggies (blanched, really), small pieces of fish like cod, and small pieces of roasted chicken, to start. Indeed, she's 10 now and she still wants to eat what I'm eating -- which I might add is the best way I've found to introduce her to new foods or new ways of cooking/preparing what she likes already.
If you're into memorializing your kid's first meal, do it with pictures/video not food. If you overthink the food, your kid might be more into painting the walls with it than eating it.
malleron at 10:02AM on 10/29/08
This is an inaccurate statement due to the fact most pediatricians recommend you start with baby cereal mixed with mommy milk. I feed my child one new food per week to make sure of no allergies and then i give them regular food pureed. My children also preferred veggies over meat as mallerons kids did. I am sure you know this but NEVER feed a baby under the age of 1 honey, it contains botulism.
love2cook at 10:10AM on 10/29/08
I adopted my daughter at 8.5 months and to that point, she had only had formula. So I had to teach her to have a spoon in her mouth - and that spoon contained Pablum cut with formula.When we graduated beyond that - and it was quick - I think her first meal was sweet potatoes or pumpkin. To this day she loves both.
Maureen at 10:19AM on 10/29/08
Although I wouldn't recommend the chillis I am surprised by the diversity of flavours that Silverbrowlette is willing to eat. I know there's no certainty it will last, but she even likes boiled courgette!!
Silverbrow at 10:40AM on 10/29/08
i'm excited because my son is almost 5 months old, and this is such a great time of year for introducing fun mushable baby foods. We'll probably start with the rice cereal soon (just because we "should"), but then it's sweet potatoes and pumpkin, and then maybe turkey, all in time for the holidays... I can't wait to have sweet potatoes all over the kitchen!
jessie at 10:46AM on 10/29/08
me and my other half started our daughter on rice cereal mixed in with her formula at 2 months old. she just stated with oatmeal cereal mixed in this week. Our pediatrician doesn't seem to mind because Marley, our daughter has doubled in size and she likes what we've been doing. the little girl is an eater!
dozertx at 11:09AM on 10/29/08
Mom thinks her first meal was rice cereal and carrots, but Dad remembers sneaking in tiny pieces of Chicken Satay. We were presumably both bested when we found the little one in the dog food bowl. Haute cuisine can wait.
lagomorph at 11:30AM on 10/29/08
Guess no one had a problem with the "jew baby" comment?
jonathankavner at 11:38AM on 10/29/08
My son had carrots for his first meal. Now he is obsessed with gravy, potato soup, baked beans, and any pickles he can steal from me.
DCraver at 1:00PM on 10/29/08
@Silverbrow: Thanks for stopping by. That was a fun post to read. You're lucky your little one takes after you.
@jonathankavner: Thanks for pointing that out. I read so fast that I read right over that.
@Wolverines: I'm removing the comment that jonathankavner's referring to. I hope we can chalk it down to the "j" and "n" keys being close together. If that's all it was and you meant "new baby," you're welcome to repost your comment. If it was indeed an off-color comment, I'm going to have to remind you of our comments policy.
Adam Kuban at 1:17PM on 10/29/08
the baby should also have a sip of pizza grease from a lil' pepperoni cup to accompany that first meal of pureed pizza.
dmarina at 2:18PM on 10/29/08
I found rice cereal to be revolting. We put regular brown rice though a food mill and added mama milk for first solid food - but avocado and sweet potato soon joined the mix. My kids, 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yrs, still eat that mix on a nearly daily basis (obviously no longer puree). They love to taste exotic foods, but I know they have a good staple to fill them.
maialisa at 3:28PM on 10/29/08
I think the key is the food mill. I would want to feed my little at least a few of the flavors I enjoy, like maybe a mild chickpea curry and yogurt (but put through the mill before I add the salt. You have to be careful with babies and salt.)
buttonwillowsix at 12:54AM on 10/30/08
@Adam Kuban: Indeed I am - and thanks for the link :)
Silverbrow at 8:17AM on 10/31/08