"Hungry Monkey" book review

Awwwww, sweet...

I just finished reading "Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise and Adventurous Eater" by Matthew Amster-Burton.

This book was published a few years ago by a Seattle foodie and father who endeavors to turn his daughter, Iris, into a fellow foodie. Af first, she's an eager eater and munches down anything they feed her (pad thai, sushi, spicy curries) but as soon as she hits two years old, she turns picky. I've seen this happen to many kids and... well, it might happen to Luke.

The book is a very quick read, with simple meat-centric recipes (no baby purees here, it's all grown-up food that can be adapted to kid's preferences and made with a toddler's help) and lots of stories of Iris and Matthew's adventures in eating. Iris seems to love meat, easily differentiating between different brands of bacon, yet she's picky about vegetables and will only scarf down bok choi if it's a part of a Chinese dumpling.

I found myself aggravated and bemused, in turns, by his stories of feeding his kid. Since Luke is only 10 months old, I'm dealing with a whole different set of food-related issues and I'm still naive enough to hope that he'll be a flexible, mellow eater. The author seemed to allow a certain level of pickiness that I'm not sure I'll have the patience for; allowing her to eat an endless stream of pretzels, cookies, and other starches while steadfastly refusing most things green and vegetabley. On the other hand, Iris chows down on mackerel, lobster and cilantro, so her diet isn't entirely carb-laden.

The book made me think about how I'm going to handle Luke's inevitable "food preferences" as he grows. There's a well-known child nutritionist, Ellyn Satler, who has popularized the term "division of responsibility" in reference to feeding children. It basically states that parents are responsible for the what, when, and where of feeding, and children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating. So basically, I'm responsible for offering Luke 3 square meals a day of healthy and varied foods. Luke's responsible for actually choosing to put that food in his mouth and swallow it.

This is already a struggle for us. Though I've offered Luke innumerable types of vegetables, he rarely actually swallows them. And it's not just vegetables. Luke, at 10 months, is really not all that into food. He may or may not swallow a few nibbles of something but he inevitably spits it all up. It's frustrating and puzzling. Lately, we've found that he really likes freeze-dried mangoes and strawberries. Do you know how expensive freeze-dried mangoes and strawberries are? Yeah. Not cheap. But he'll happily put the mango in his mouth and let it dissolve and (likely accidentally) swallow it. He can do wholegrain hippie cheerios, too, and the occasional graham cracker, and he'll suck on broccoli for ages. But yogurt? salmon? beans? Nope.

Today we had a bit of a breakthrough. After slurping a large chunk of pear through this ridiculous mesh feeder (he won't actually eat a pear chunk) he seemed interested in my grapefruit. So I offered him some, thinking, "what baby likes grapefruit"? Mine, apparently. Later, I was eating avocado and spicy salsa and he exhibited curiosity, so I offered him a small chunk. Yup. He was totally into it, and ate at least a tablespoon. Weirdo.

So, who knows what our food future will bring with this particular, quirky little boy of ours. I enjoyed "Hungry Monkey", largely because the author is so clearly a food-loving man and wants nothing more than to enjoy his favorite things with his daughter. Despite her pickiness and strong preferences, Iris seemingly enjoys food, cooking, eating and trying out restaurants. It's an important reminder to me that it's important to stay relaxed and encouraging about this whole food thing, and know that, at some point, Luke will be excited about food.