I Fed My Little Girl Meals From 195 Countries & It Was Bonkers Cute
I spent four years cooking more than 650 recipes from every country in the world and fed every dish to my daughter before her 5th birthday.
My goal is to make international cooking approachable and fun. My husband and young daughter are eager guinea pigs. We live smack-dab in the middle of Middle America and face many of the same challenges as our community – a picky family member, finding ways to spice up dinnertime on a dime, and a desire to teach my child to love her world. We can’t travel right now, so bringing the world to our kitchen was a great solution for our family.
You won’t find recipes for deep-fried tarantulas or mopane worms on Global Table Adventure. My recipe adaptations may come from more than 195 countries, but this is not about shock value. I explore recipe “bridges” – authentic meals that are simple, healthy and make my family say YUM. Most recipes can be made quickly with ingredients that are available in the average city. I only use ingredients I can purchase locally.
Working my way through new recipes every week is a walking meditation that helped me to find inner peace. My debut book “Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness” shares what drove me to cook the world and how my tumultuous childhood shaped who I would become as a mother.
More info: GlobalTableAdventure.com
Ava was a tiny 7-month old when we started with Kabeli Palau (Afghanistan)
By the time she turned 4 she was making some pretty awesome spring rolls (Vietnam)
Together we made artisan bread (France)
Took a big bite of coconut sticky rice towers – and still asks for them today (Malaysia)
Caviar was not exactly a success (Russia)
But she was a HUGE fan of watermelon lemonade (Ghana)
She was gnawing on grilled corn with coconut milk (Cambodia)
She helped mom make beer – but didn’t drink it (Germany)
Nearly 100 countries deep, she went crazy for chili peppers (Laos)
One year later she fell in love with a Gingerbread Ricotta Tart (Estonia)
And what kid doesn’t love noodles – like this bakso soup (East Timor)
There were a few sticky situations, like walnuts dipped in concentrated grape juice (Georgia)
She adored rolling her own pita bread (Iraq)
And was a sushi rolling boss (Japan)
She satisfied her sweet tooth with a Macadamia Pie (Marshall Islands)
Sometimes she fed ME… Curried Corned beef (Fiji)
Soon she turned 3 – and this egg & baguette sandwich didn’t stand a chance (Niger)
Gobbled up lamb stuffed, deep-fried potato wedges because… duh (Libya)
Her frankincense Ice cream tasted like Christmas Trees in July.. until it fell to the ground (Oman)
But her spirits stayed high with Lumpia Shanghai (Philippines)
She was a royal fan of the Swedish Princess Cake
And she conquered her fear of stuffed grape leaves (Qatar)
When we finished it was a little bittersweet… but mostly sweet thanks to these Candy Cakes from Zimbabwe. Thank you world. You were delicious!
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I think children would be a lot more adventurous in their eating if they were part of creating the food.
What a wonderful and creative way to enlighten your child to what other cultures have to offer. This is what more Americans should do-- we are a giant mixing pot of rich cultures and diverse ancestry, so why don't more people embrace it? Word of advice-- Don't look at this post when you're super hungry! ^o^!
Sasha, your post is hands-down my FAVOURITE in years!!! (That's saying something too as the posts about animals always melt my heart.) Your little girl's obvious delight in both the process and in reaping the fruits of your labours cheers me immensely. You must live in a larger centre or city to be able to buy the ingredients, thank goodness for you. I lived in Manitoba for a number of years and could find little. I had to travel to a larger city just to find sonething like cumin! And how wonderful that your husband is happy to be a recipient of your cooking too. -- My husband often turned his nose up at things I made that weren't even that unusual. So lots of 'exotic foods' I'd make for mid-day meals for my 3 young sons and me. I'm glad to say they love all kinds of real food now that they're adults. -- If I could, I'd give you and Ava really big hugs! Ava will grow into a happy well-adjusted woman from how you both raise her...and your family will have the best fun ever. BRAVO!!
As parents you are fantastic! There is nothing worse, or irritating, than a picky child when it comes to food. You guys have the right approach in introducing your child to various foods when young. Well done.
Here is a link to the countries Sasha prepared recipes: "http://mapbake.com/#=ZzKSWvACiGBXrdaM6OH!U7Z_=ufoMA9rx9.~=0c!c#%22Sasha%27s%20Country%20cooking%22"
Nice job teaching your child the different flavors and feels of food. Not enough parents teach their kids this stuff. Mine grew up with all sorts of ethnicities of food and they're better for it.
I wish parents can have a more open mind to try food from different countries. Their daughter is so lucky to be exposed to different cultures.
in my experience kids will at least give everything a try. don't push them but give them the opportunity to chose. so, someone is seriously into cooking (i#ve noticed that) and someone knows the menus of the world (either that or does a lot of travelling). good thing but ... well.
Just a small correction, mie bakso soup or the meatball noodle soup is not originally from East Timor. It is a popular street food in Indonesia. The peiple from Java Island brought it over to Timor Leste. You can substitute noodle with rice vermicelli, too
So adorable! Fun way to play with your child! Could you post your recipes/cookbook?
Here is a link to the countries Sasha prepared recipes from: "http://mapbake.com/#=ZzKSWvACiGBXrdaM6OH!U7Z_=ufoMA9rx9.~=0c!c#%22Sasha%27s%20Country%20cooking%22"
I think children would be a lot more adventurous in their eating if they were part of creating the food.
What a wonderful and creative way to enlighten your child to what other cultures have to offer. This is what more Americans should do-- we are a giant mixing pot of rich cultures and diverse ancestry, so why don't more people embrace it? Word of advice-- Don't look at this post when you're super hungry! ^o^!
Sasha, your post is hands-down my FAVOURITE in years!!! (That's saying something too as the posts about animals always melt my heart.) Your little girl's obvious delight in both the process and in reaping the fruits of your labours cheers me immensely. You must live in a larger centre or city to be able to buy the ingredients, thank goodness for you. I lived in Manitoba for a number of years and could find little. I had to travel to a larger city just to find sonething like cumin! And how wonderful that your husband is happy to be a recipient of your cooking too. -- My husband often turned his nose up at things I made that weren't even that unusual. So lots of 'exotic foods' I'd make for mid-day meals for my 3 young sons and me. I'm glad to say they love all kinds of real food now that they're adults. -- If I could, I'd give you and Ava really big hugs! Ava will grow into a happy well-adjusted woman from how you both raise her...and your family will have the best fun ever. BRAVO!!
As parents you are fantastic! There is nothing worse, or irritating, than a picky child when it comes to food. You guys have the right approach in introducing your child to various foods when young. Well done.
Here is a link to the countries Sasha prepared recipes: "http://mapbake.com/#=ZzKSWvACiGBXrdaM6OH!U7Z_=ufoMA9rx9.~=0c!c#%22Sasha%27s%20Country%20cooking%22"
Nice job teaching your child the different flavors and feels of food. Not enough parents teach their kids this stuff. Mine grew up with all sorts of ethnicities of food and they're better for it.
I wish parents can have a more open mind to try food from different countries. Their daughter is so lucky to be exposed to different cultures.
in my experience kids will at least give everything a try. don't push them but give them the opportunity to chose. so, someone is seriously into cooking (i#ve noticed that) and someone knows the menus of the world (either that or does a lot of travelling). good thing but ... well.
Just a small correction, mie bakso soup or the meatball noodle soup is not originally from East Timor. It is a popular street food in Indonesia. The peiple from Java Island brought it over to Timor Leste. You can substitute noodle with rice vermicelli, too
So adorable! Fun way to play with your child! Could you post your recipes/cookbook?
Here is a link to the countries Sasha prepared recipes from: "http://mapbake.com/#=ZzKSWvACiGBXrdaM6OH!U7Z_=ufoMA9rx9.~=0c!c#%22Sasha%27s%20Country%20cooking%22"
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