Lots of parents worry about their legacy. The legacy they leave through their children is often the way we worry about it most. Gone are the days many adults worry if they’ll be remembered as famous for something, but all but a few parents don’t want to be known as a good father or mother.

The legacy we pass down through our wee ones is often still haughty. We want for them to be doctors, lawyers, or millionaire moguls. Some of us want them to be actors or writers, and a handful, well, we’d settle for street musician. Oddly enough, none of those is about character or what kind of person that child grows up to be.

It’d be nice if we could do something to guarantee our sons and daughters would go up and be on the straight and narrow. Even better if they’d lead the world to peace. Most of our children though will end up contributing on a much more intimate level with friends and family. So let’s give them an appreciation and interest that’s immediately sharable and doesn’t require a fortune to nurture.

Let’s teach our kids to be foodies. Yes, foodies. It’s a term some of you haven’t heard. It’s someone that actually enjoys food. All of us eat to live, but a select few of us learn to appreciate food beyond sustenance. It gives us a chance to take real joy at even the most odd dish served.

Being a foodie isn’t about being the biggest eater, the one that finds the most exotic thing to eat, or spending the most. A good foodie is one that enjoys the variety of things they eat, from the textures, to the seasonings and the scents. It’s about finding something special in every dish. Sometimes that bit of special might be the history of the dish, the chef that created it, or yes, the rare ingredient.

Foodies don’t just fall from the tree, they have to be nurtured. The best way to grow your own foodie children is turning food from drudgery into fun. Kids in the kitchen is a big plus, but there’s more. It can be indulged at every meal.

Here’s some suggestions:

• Let kids explore how to eat each food. Let them eat broccoli spears with their fingers, pizza with chopsticks, and more.
• Get them to explore tastes. Throw some unusual things on their plates at an early age. Tomatoes, asparagus, and oatmeal to start with. These are staples here in the states. Beyond that, introduce plantains, avocado, and hominy.
• Eat on the floor. Not off the floor, but try sitting on pillows on the floor, and spread out small tables to eat off, or the coffee table. Make it an adventure
• Picnics. Yep, blanket, basket, easy foods. Put those together with a little patch of grass and some sun and you’ve got a great experience.
• Eat with friends. Take every opportunity to have your children eat with other children and with adults as well. Don’t limit these interactions to just formal events or informal ones. Variety and exposure are key.
• Eat with strangers. Take the family out to eat. It doesn’t have to be exotic, fancy, or expensive, but getting them used to eating in groups of unfamiliar folks helps break down barriers. For best experiences, go to a restaurant where they don’t speak your native tongue and the menu isn’t in your tongue either. Help the children explore ordering.

It’s not about what foods you get them to eat each time, but expanding their ability to enjoy food in all circumstances. This may seem like a trivial and unimportant skill, but across the world, few things work to break down barriers as well as breaking bread together. True peace is rarely brokered in brightly lit staterooms in crowds but often over a drink and a bite to eat.

Understanding the food of a culture or area helps us to understand the people. It aids us in finding something interesting and even fun about those strangers, bridging the gap.

As they say at Joe’s Crab Shack, peace, love and crabs.

Todd R Jordan is a father of two boys and grandfather of three girls. His personal blogs are The Broad Brush and Folding Paper, as well as a contributor here and at Remarkable Parents. Find him on Twitter.

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