Top 5 Small Food Joys

When I was young I remember my Grandma peeling a banana and slicing it into small rounds. She then turned one of the rounds to the front and showed me the grumpy little banana face you can find inside. Every sliced banana has a face, and each is unique. I still have a little look each time I slice a banana for Harry. The other day I passed this little secret onto Harry, and he was delighted. It made me think of all the little things in life we older people miss in our busy days, but children don’t, they find them. And maybe, if we took some time to see the small joys that raw food has to offer, we can start to educate our little ones about the benefits of healthy food and nutrition.

Finding the hidden surprises in food, preparing food together and playing with food while educating can sometimes be all you need to form those all important positive associations with food, and you might find the fussy ones might even take a bite.

Here are my top 5 small joys, can you think of others?

Banana Faces: Slice your banana into rounds and take a look at the faces inside. Often they look quite grumpy, or confused, but either way they are very cute.

Peanut Moustache Man: Using a shelled, whole peanut, very gently separate the peanut halves to reveal a little moustache man inside. (Always supervise children when eating whole nuts, as they can pose a choking risk).

Mandarin Moons: Children will love watching you peel a whole mandarin, particularly when you separate the little segments into little moon shapes. You can pair these with some apple stars to make a night scene.

Apple Stars: When you slice an apple down the centre you will find a beautiful star shape surrounding the seeds. The littlies will love seeing the hidden star inside before they enjoy eating the rest of the apple.

Hidden baby peas: Opening a snow pea for the first time will delight a little toddler. Harry still ‘gasps’ when I open it up to reveal the little baby peas inside, he can’t gobble them up fast enough.