12 Signs YOU Might Be Raising a Foodie…

7.  For the kid’s birthdays they have serious food requests.

I’m talking steak for dinner.  Or Ribs.  Those are the two most common dinner requests from our kids.  Crepes for breakfast in bed has also been requested on a birthday.  Who are these kids?!!

These photos were taken back when I just NATURALLY knew how to take great photos.  😉

I once knew a girl…  Okay, it was me.  When I was in first grade I went on a field trip to the grocery store.  And the store manager told my class we could each pick one item for free.  Candy was the most popular item picked, but I asked for a steak.  I remember my teacher and the manager laughing, and then they realized I was serious.  I didn’t get to take home a steak that day, sad.  I had to settle for a fruit roll-up instead.  True story.

8.  Their birthday cake requests are pretty extravagant.

My husband had all kinds of shaped cakes for all of his birthdays as a kid.  So, when we had kids he expected that for them, too.  I fought it at first, but then I learned to love doing fun cakes.  Now when a birthday is approaching my kids spend hours perusing Google and Pinterest looking for the cake they want.  Usually they pick THE MOST AMAZING cakes ever.  I have to bring them back to reality and say “mommy can’t make a Lego man cake that is standing up and swinging a hammer, honey.”  I do what I can with my abilities, but my kids dreams are always a little bigger.  They have started saying ‘oh yeah, that’s probably a little too hard for you, huh.’  As they accept the reality of what their cake will be.  Here’s a sampling of the cakes I’ve made in the past…

9.  They come up with genius food ideas.

My daughter is actually pretty creative, and likes to give me ideas of new foods to try on the blog.   She’s always like “can we make some cookies?  How about some lemon sugar cookies, with lemon zest?!”  (Hopefully those will show up on the blog soon…)  I’ve never had lemon sugar cookies!  I’m sure they are out there somewhere, but to her (and me) that was an original idea. I’m pretty proud of that.  My sons like to come up with recipes for lemonade.  And they even drink all their concoctions.

10.  Your kids try to steal your kitchen gadgets.

While using my mini-chopper (basically a really small food processor) my daughter was begging me to let her have it to keep in her room in her play kitchen.  The thing has REAL blades in it!  Not a good idea.  She argued that it was ‘just her size.’  Ha.  She just saw it as a necessary tool for any kitchen, and knew she didn’t have one.

11.  Your kids like to critique their food.

In a good way.  They notice the texture, the moisture, the color, etc.  They kind of understand the different elements of taste.  They talk about sweet, salty, sour, savory.  It’s fun.  The other day I heard my daughter telling her little brother  “and those brown specks are from the vanilla bean, they give it a more vanilla-y taste.”

12.  And my last sign that your kid might be a foodie is: They suggest adding a ‘splash of this’ or ‘a dash of that.’

My daughter likes to suggest things like, ‘let’s add some vanilla to that.’  It cracks me up.  And my kids say things like ‘Hmm, is there cinnamon in this?  I can taste it.”

Anyway, I find all of these traits of a ‘kid-foodie’ endearing.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  Well, I can’t pretend I don’t know where my kids get their love of food from.  I hope they hang on to this food love.  Maybe someday they’ll be helping me run a restaurant or something.  Who knows!  At the very least, I bet they will be great cooks and be able to fill their families tummies with some yummy food.  Food makes my family happy, and that’s a happiness we like to share with others.