Now, we're obviously a long way off ordering from the children's menus for Henry just yet, but while we were away I saw an excellent menu that caught my attention and got me thinking.
If I'm asked in a year or so if I'd like to see the children's menu my answer will be no. I've brought my son out for a treat, I want him to grow up loving food and enjoying it, I don't want him to eat chicken nuggets and chips followed by ice cream everywhere we go, thank you very much (obviously I won't be saying this out loud haha). Why is it that menus in restaurants have improved so much in recent years, yet children's menus look the same as they did in the 80s? We go to gastropubs that serve fresh, seasonal and local produce to adults, but frozen crap to the children. Why?
Having grown up holidaying in Spain, we ate out in hundreds of places while we were there. I don't think we saw a children's menu once. To be fair, we probably did but I can guarantee that they would have been in the restaurants owned by English people, never the Spanish. The Spanish wouldn't even blink if you asked for a smaller plate to put some of your own dinner on to give to your children and you'd be able to order a smaller portion of anything on their normal menu. We took my niece to a local Spanish tapas restaurant in the summer and they looked at us blankly when we asked about a children's menu. She was more than happy to eat the squid, chorizo and olives that we ordered and we even had to order doubles of some dishes because her uncles were quite put out at how much she was eating!!
It seems strange to me that in a country that is very much pushing and encouraging 'baby led' weaning which involves giving your baby the same food as you eat right from their first meal, we still have the standard children's menu in almost every restaurant. Sausage and chips, chicken nuggets and chips, fish fingers and chips...you know the type of stuff. Always followed by ice cream...why?! Also accompanied by a refillable fizzy drink if you are in Nando's. Is it just me that thinks that's a stupid idea?!
Eating out should be a pleasure, we should be encouraging our children to enjoy food and choose healthily, so why do parents choose this crap in restaurants? If anything, parents are more obsessed than ever with E numbers and additives in their food at home, yet they are perfectly happy to order crappy food for their children in really decent restaurants. Don't get me wrong, Henry will absolutely be eating fish fingers on occasion at home, I won't be one of those parents that loses any sleep about their child going to McDonald's for a birthday party or how many Easter eggs they ate for breakfast on Easter Sunday. We won't be only giving him organic or unprocessed food, I'm not a health freak and honestly believe these cause more eating issues for children in the future. Mr B and I love food, we eat out a lot. I want Henry to grow up looking forward to eating out with us and I hope that when he's asked what his favourite food is when he's older he won't respond with the usual "pizza"...or if he does at least let it be "Il Padrino pizza from Pizza Express"!! If you ask my niece this question she would tell you that her favourite foods are chorizo, mushrooms, pork crackling, olives and bacon...can you tell that she's from a foodie family?!
So in a year's time we will start asking for the children's menu and if it's crap we will be asking for a side plate or a half portion of something from the adults menu. I encourage you to do the same, it's the only way the restaurants will ever change.
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