We’ve been driving across Spain from Girona to Costa Brava, from Casteldefels to Barcelona and now Valencia all the way to Madrid. The most amazing thing about driving across Europe is that you get to see and go to many places tourist never see. Our family’s newest hobby is to seek out large grocery stores to “check out” the different food items to try when we get back to the RV. Today was one of those days.
We allow our children to shop for and choose a few items they wanted to try, as long as 1) it was something they’ve never eaten before and 2) they promise to eat it. Here’s what went to the basket on this particular day;
Since our trip to Belgium, both kids have grown to love mussels. So as soon as Lou Lou saw these colorful boxes she grabbed a few and place it into our cart. I had to explain to her that these were SPICY, but she insisted she wanted to try them. I eventually exchanged the spicy for non-spicy mussels while she wasn’t looking. I’m not a big fan of canned seafood (except for tuna), but when we got back to the RV and prepared it for lunch the next day it was pretty tasty! I regret not getting the spicy ones… it would have probably been really good.
Jaf loves potatoes. He thought this was one big potato wheel and decided he wanted to try this. We didn’t realize this was a popular Spanish breakfast dish. Tortilla de Patata is made with eggs and potatoes (and sometimes other ingredients). It’s wonderful not only for breakfast but also for lunch with a side salad which is what we did a few days later for lunch.
We didn’t get this because it would have been way too much pork to eat all at once. But the reaction on the kids face when they saw hanging cured pork legs was hilarious! “What the?!!” was Jaf’s first response. He still wants to know how that would fit in our RV kitchenette.
Crustless white bread. Oh, my! I love eating peanut butter and jelly on fresh, soft, white bread. I must have eaten that whole loaf in less than a week. It was the first time both Lou Lou and Jaf tried crustless bread and are now big fans of this particular brand BIMBO!
Jaf wanted to try these “cookies”, which tasted more like macaroons. I think this is Spain’s version of a macaroon although we’ve never seen them sold in any bakery of candy shop around town. These Mostachones were very good, we ate the whole bag before even entering the RV!
We finally made it back to Homer, and the first item the kids took out was a bottle of Chufi. I don’t even remember this being in the shopping cart, but as Jaf would say “Pay attention next time Mommy”. Chufi is a bottled version of Spain’s famous Horchata. Both kids never tried horchata before and thought it was a vanilla milk shake. They weren’t fond of Chufi, but that didn’t stop their dad from finishing off the entire bottle. Trina is also a popular juice with kids in Spain. It tastes like Orangina or more like a fizzy version of Fanta, less the sugar.
It is always a fun experience for us, shopping in a foreign grocery store and purchasing items we’ve never eaten before. We are proud of our kids and love their sense of adventure when it comes down to trying new things. In the end, we now believe if you want your children to try new foods, you should take them to the grocery stores with you and have them choose things they want to try but have never tried before. You’d be surprised at what they choose and may find out interesting things about your child, learning their likes and dislikes along the way.