If you’re a mom, chances are that you know more than anyone else in the world the struggles of getting children to eat a well-balanced meal. You probably also know that cooking can be a real art and presentation can make all the difference in overall culinary experience. Laleh Mohmedi is one mother who took on the challenge of getting her son to eat healthy, creating fun, fantastic food art using fruits, vegetables, grains, and the help of a few of his favorite fictional characters.
On JamieOliver.com, this Melbourne-based mom shared her approach to getting her son Jacob to indulge in more nutritious meals, a journey that started out with a plate of spelt pancakes. Mohmedi explained saying, “I decided to turn my son Jacob’s spelt pancakes into a lion for a bit of fun. His reaction to it was priceless and so full of joy that I continued transforming his food into characters, using different ingredients to mark out their features – cherries for eyes, carrots for noses, and spelling out his name with other carved fruit and veg.”
As the days went on, her little boy got more excited by mealtimes, requesting characters that he wanted made either from his books, toys, TV programs, or just something he’d taken a liking to. Not only have his mealtimes become bowls of creativity, they have strengthened the bond between mother and child, as Mohmedi now gets to spend more quality time with her son.
If you’d like to adopt her approach to mealtimes, Mohmedi’s advice is to always get your child involved and to not worry about how artistic you are as what you may think looks terrible will most probably look amazing to your child. She explains that getting your child to help prepare their own food provides a great opportunity to teach them about the variety of ingredients that make up their meals, and it allows you to add more healthy options to meals as the more colorful the characters are the more ingredients you get to incorporate with your child’s approval.
To get inspired, check out her Instagram page (@jacobs_food_diaries).
