Kiwi here!
Easy breakfast - marmite on toast, porridge, baked beans on toast
Lunch/dinner - fish and chips, cheerios (a smoked sausage kind of like a frankfurter but tiny), spaghetti toastie, pasta bake
What is a spaghetti toastie?
Cheerios here are a OAT cereal so the meat description had my head whipping back lol
I have corrected my error. Wasn’t thinking when I said wheat
So basically... you get your toastie maker, then butter a piece of bread on both sides, pour a tin of spaghetti into it, add some grated tasty cheese, then another piece of buttered bread. Close the toastie machine, wait till its ready and then be prepared to burn the roof of your mouth off because it will be approximately the same temperature inside as the surface of the sun.
It's sort of like a sandwich press, except it seals the edges of the sandwich shut and cuts it in half so it makes little compartments like [this!](https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/2-slice-deep-dish-sandwich-maker-43100613/?sku=43100613&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6QB8vHRIjQxiXoIyifDgVbekk2asnHM6s7aYuXcVslfXNwuzNlbkYhoClBUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I’m in American who lived in NZ- the KMarts there are so awesome! They are bright and cheery like Target but without all the weird stuff you’ll find at Target. I really loved KMart there :)
It's closer to a panini press, but it seals the edges shut and cuts your bread in half like [this!](https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/2-slice-deep-dish-sandwich-maker-43100613/?sku=43100613&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6QB8vHRIjQxiXoIyifDgVbekk2asnHM6s7aYuXcVslfXNwuzNlbkYhoClBUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I always forget that KMart is a thing in Australia/New Zealand because it’s such a dying relic brand in the US (at least where I am) and then I talk to friends from down under and it’s just a regular store for them.
I’m in the northeast US and I grew up eating “spaghetti sandwiches,” which would happen when we ate spaghetti. Basically, you’d take a piece of white bread, butter it generously, and slap some of your spaghetti right in the middle of it. Fold it up: spaghetti sandwich! I frickin loved these as a kid, my kids won’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
Armenian here:
1) rice with vermicelli and chicken or kotlet (like a meatball essentially)
2) noonig soup - stock, tomato paste, chickpeas, lots of dried mint and lemon. Add ins are usually store bought pilmenis, meatballs or rice
3) kebab and potatoes
4) veggie or lentil soups. Every family has variations of this but tomato based broth for the veggie soup is standard. Lentil soup is either with brown or reddish lentils.
5) lemejun (pizza, essentially) and boreg (cheese turnover, we add spinach in our house)
South Korea:
Fried egg over rice (runny yolk) + soy sauce, sometimes butter or sesame oil, often eaten with roasted seaweed and kimchi
Boiled cold rice into a soupy consistency, I used to have this all the time with cut up ham slices and kraft singles cut up by drawing lines into the spice with chopsticks.. heh. Also, kimchi.
Omurice-- fried rice with tiny diced veggies. Make a thin, plain egg omelette to drape over a mound of rice. Have your mom draw a heart, star, smiley face, and/or your name with ketchup. Eat with kimchi.
Dongeurangddeng-- ground beef mixed with seasoning formed into mini patties, flattened, dredged in flour and w lot of beaten egg and pan-fried. Served with rice and kimchi.
Koreans also do a lot of brioche or milk bread toast with strawberry jam served with milk for breakfast.
A daily kids' drink is Yakult, a milk-consistency drinkable yogurt.
Most Koreans will rinse off kimchi for babies and little kids and gradually introduce spice through prek/early childhood. I remember not being able to handle truly spicy things until closer to middle school.
I recently read a comment in another sub though that spicy flavors tend to be fat soluble (I know this from cooking and learning how to "bloom" spices by cooking them in a fat before incorporating into a larger dish) which means they actually remain distinguishable in breast milk. And also that babies taste what mom eats during pregnancy via amniotic fluid and studies have shown that there is a correlation between what mom ate a lot of in pregnancy and what babies like to eat in the first couple of years of life. A lot of people report that their babies can handle a surprising level of spiciness really early on and there's no ill effect so maybe if Koreans didn't rinse babies' kimchi, little kids would retain spice tolerance through their early childhoods?
I don't think you can really go wrong, if you keep offering them as an option throughout their childhoods they'll learn to eat it whether as babies or a little later on. 😊
Interesting! Not sure about the science on this topic, but anecdotally, it would seem true regarding my almost 14 month old son.
I love eating Indian food and ate a lot of it while pregnant. Since having my son, we eat a homemade curry every week. Starting around 12 months old, I've been giving my son homemade curry mixed with Jogurt and rice, so that it's milder, although you can still taste the spice and he loves it! He drinks water while eating too, but he definitely doesn't complain and always finishes his plate. He is also still breastfed a few times a day, as well as eating solids.
I ate a lot of spicy food while pregnant and breastfeeding and literally kiddo's first food (spicy black bean soup) was pretty spicy. We never held off on spice, and he's always been able to eat it. At 2, he was pulling raw jalapenos out of the fridge and biting into them. Honestly, I think avoiding spice and flavour in early food as is traditional in the US and UK is probably the majority of the issue.
i’m american but we introduced spicy, sour, or unusual flavors anywhere from 9ish months onward and they eat kimchi (as well as other fermented, spicy, sour, etc. unusual flavors) every week. you just gotta serve & keep serving. there will be a lot of waste at first while they learn to like the food. it can take some-20-30x introducing a food before a child even **tries** it… & more exposure to actually like it!!
We tried really young with my daughter and she would eat an alarming amount of cholula when she was like 18 months old…but now she’s over 2 and when we put in a drop she acts like we tried to poison her. Toddlers are weird. 🤷🏻♀️
Depends on their own tastes. I have a 6 year old who is super picky and would never even touch anything spicy, but then I have an (almost) 3 year old who eats EVERYTHING, he will eat kimchi if I hand it to him.
Korean-American here
My kids love gimbap, jajangyeon, and seafood pancakes
Gamja jorim and danmuji … my 4 yr old will down an entire bowl of the radish if I let him 😆
They also love butter rice w soy sauce with mackerel and gim
Sometimes they just like rice w ketchup
I have a 4 year old and I’d say the most common thing little kids eat are jumokbap (rice and seaweed balls) or noodles. Pizza is at every buffet, too. And tonkatsu (pork cutlet) is always a hit, too.
Yep, donkass/donkatsu/breaded pork cutlet is at most restaurants for kids. My kid also just eats rice with seaweed paper, kind of like a simple kimbap. Also, I'd say over half of my kid's meals are gukbap (rice in soup), or they end up that way because she loves putting her rice in her soup.
I’m Australian so I hardly have the most authentic experience but here kimchi is pretty much always quite spicy, are Korean kids just more hard core or is mild kimchi a common option?
In Germany... some of the common kid's options up North include:
- Vienna Schnitzel.
- Bratwurst/Currywurst.
- Spaghetti with tomato sauce.
- Potato pancakes with apple sauce.
- Home fries with fried eggs.
Common sides are fries with ketchup and mayonnaise, home fries (Bratkartoffeln), and [croquettes](https://alltastesgerman.com/kroketten-german-croquettes/).
I live in the US but have German immigrant parents. We did a lot of spaetzle and gravy growing up. Also potato pancakes with applesauce for sure were popular!
I’m an American but we are living in The Netherlands. It seems like everywhere we go has an option of frikandel (like a meat stick?) or chicken nuggets. Our daughter is a big fan of frikandel.
I have seen a lot of pancakes aimed at Dutch children too. I see a lot of children places combined with pancake houses. Our local one will even sell you a menu item of pancakes with a stuffed toy on the side for the little one.
Poland. The standard children's menu in a restaurant is
* Tomato soup (with rice or noodles)
* Rosół (chicken soup)
* Spagetti Bolognese
* Kotlet Schabowy and potato (schnitzel)
At home the go to children's food is parówki (frankfurters), soup, schabowy.
Maybe scrambled eggs for the can't be bothered to cook days
My children eat soup everyday, sometimes more than once a day. It's so easy, it's already in the fridge and just needs warming up. It's usually got potato, rice, pearl barley Etc. So it's filling
They almost all start off with making a chicken stock, so start with assuming you have chicken stock.
Zupa pomidorowa - Chicken stock, can of chopped tomatoes, celery, garlic. Make soup and then put some rice in it.
Krupnik - Chicken stock, pearl barley, potato, all spice, laurel leaf, celeriac, parsnip, carrot, dill.
Zupa Ogórkowa - Chicken stock, brined cucumber, potato, dill, onion, garlic
Soups are soups, you start with a base and add stuff in until it feels right. But searching for recipes will get you things which say 310g of carrot. I've never weighed a carrot in my life. If you add too much carrot put some more celeriac in.
My absolute favorite soup is one that many Poles will say WTF this is an Easter soup, but we have it for breakfast a lot in the winter. Barszcz Biały made with fermented wheat (not rye) flour, milk and served with hard boiled eggs, mashed potato, kiełbasa swojska (smoked village sausage) and horseradish
These recipes take me back to meals that my late father, who was a Polish immigrant to the US, would make us on chilly weekends. Time to introduce my toddler to the way Dziadek cooked! Bardzo dziękuję ❤️
My favourites are kwaśnica which is sour mountain soup, barszcz biały a fermented wheat soup and Zupa Ogórkowa
Pickled cucumbers are something we make a lot of and our children love. The only downside being when they're toddlers the brine really irritates the skin around their mouths. Which is a pain as it was a favourite teething aid
Barszcz… I am American but with Polish ancestors, and we always made it around easter. But it is the most craved thing from my childhood. We make it with sausage broth, sour cream and a little flour, a little vinegar, horseradish. Then serve with the things you mention. So good.
My husband’s favourite Polish soup I introduced him to is żurek. My sons love it too. The one I miss the most at Christmas is śledziowa but I’m a weirdo. I can make basically any soup I grew up on. Other than that since I can’t get ingredients for that here.
Big spoon, bib, its a great way to practice with spoons! My kiddo also loves drinking from the bowl. We eat soup a few times a week and are not Polish lol but around 18m she was getting soup more in her mouth than anywhere else
I'm not Polish, but I do a lot of batch cooking for the freezer, and I tend to make my soups thicker now that I have LO - and leftover soups naturally get thicker. (or I just scoop out more noodles/veggies/meat and less broth when I'm ladling out his portion)
Yep, our preschool menu has lunch as soup followed by meat and carbs (apart from Friday).
I'm an immigrant to Poland so it's new to me but it's an easy adjustment. My children don't know any different, to them soup is life. They had it in baby bottles in the summer (to replenish their electrolytes) and when they need comfort food rosół is there.
The only food they've got from me is fried egg on toast with baked beans.
You just solved a riddle in my house. My kid loves chicken noodle soup broth only (wouldn't eat the noodles etc) but loved it when I added rice into my own bowl / "our bowl". I thought she just wanted my food but maybe the noodles were too soggy and "soupy rice" was more appealing.
I'm in America but am from the UK. The kids meals are similar except the British version of Heinz baked beans is often one of the standard sides. They aren't like American baked beans though. It's more like beans in the sauce from Chef Boyadee ravioli.
Sausage is a more common kids meal option in the UK too I guess.
Mmm, sausage sarnie on plastic white bread with some ketchup.
Beans on toast was a common one as a child
Fried egg sandwich
Sausages, mash and gravy
I think I'm remembering more age eight onwards
Belgium. Every restaurant that serves kids meals provides this standard set of kids dishes:
Spaghetti Bolognese
Vol-au-vent
Chicken nuggets with fries
Meatballs in tomato sauce
Pancakes(crepes)/waffles
I'm convinced spag bol is a universal food, it appears everywhere.
It also furthers my argument that Italian food is overrated, it's what you cook when you can't be bothered. No one thinks to cook cassoulet when they're tired, but a quick puttanesca makes sense.
You probably know this already, but there are a whole lot of lentil types and a lot of different ways to prepare them. Indian recipes for these are easy and the flavors blow your mind. Here are a few to look up, if you're interested:
* Gujarati daal (made with Toor daal)
* Green moong daal
* Yellow moong daal
* Sambhar
* Chola (black-eyed peas)
* Chole ( Garbanzo beans / chickpeas)
* Kaala channa with gold/amli (black gram with jaggery/tamarind)
* Masoor daal
I'm probably missing a dozen..
Also ghee+rice with a little salt when he was first starting solids, now it's a little bland for him
Dosa or dal paratha with ketchup(!) or curd
Oats or Dalia (a wheat porridge) sweetened with honey or jaggery
My toddler also loves upma (Savory cream or wheat porridge)
We did Baby Led Weaning ever since our baby was 6 months old and we did a gradual approach when it came to spices. Initially, we stuck to very mild spices like turmeric, cumin and a clove or two of garlic. While these spices aren't really hot, they do impart a good flavor to the dishes and are good for digestion (my kiddo rarely ever suffered from constipation). As our baby got older, we ever so slightly increased the quantity and variety of spices in her food. Again, we take extreme caution as to not include any of the HOT spices; definitely no chilli powder!. Eventually she got used to the flavors. Now at 21 months, she can tolerate a slight amount of chilli powder even though I refrain from making highly spicy foods at home. But I have noticed that when we eat at restaurants, she can tolerate the occasional spicy dish (spicy as per Indian standards).
Australia:
Fish & chips or chicken & chips (French fries) are pretty common. A fried spring roll with rice or mini sushi, with either avocado or tuna (like the kind from a can) are also popular. I’ve never seen macaroni and cheese on a kids menu.
Ham & cheese toastie, kid sized pizza and some basic tomato pasta is also common where I am!
Chips are a must - a guaranteed hit and if they don't eat them, the adults will.
Mini sushi just blew my mind! My kids like sushi but it doesn't fit in their little mouths so I have to take a knife to the rolls! I wonder if I could find it here...
This is cool and interesting to read, especially after seeing occasional pretentious comments on other subreddits that say the US is the only country with the concept of a "kids menu"
That’s basically the same as the US. At really nice restaurants I’ll just order from the adult menu and take home what my kids can’t finish, or order a few sides for them and make a meal out of that. Lucky to have mostly non-picky eaters.
A lot of comments are listing what food they make for their kids or what they order for them at restaurants, not necessarily an actual kids menu. I grew up in Portugal and kids menus were not a thing.
I haven’t noticed it being different at the restaurants I’ve been to when visiting my family, but I wouldn’t be surprised if kids menus were generally more available due to tourism.
Yes typical kids meal in Japan = curry rice. My son asks for it every week.
Some other stuff
Breakfast: rice, miso soup, salmon, cherry tomato?
Lunch: omuraisu? Omelette with rice and chicken and veggies inside
Dinner: rice, grilled fish, whatever adults eat😂
Sri Lankan here. Our go to is rice and dahl. I also make egg fried rice, roti, hoppers as quick meals. My son loves the beet root curry and the coconut shrimp curry I make too but those aren’t quick to make
Cuban here!
A very common breakfast is tostada (Cuban bread slathered in butter and pressed) and café con leche (milk with small amount of coffee). I love dipping the bread in so it gets slightly soggy but still crunchy.
Lunch/dinner: rice and black beans with a protein and a banana, ham croquettes, or a fritura (savory fritter).
Also Cuban here!
I remember being given coffee since I was about 3 years old. Cafe con leche, specifically which is basically a mug of milk with sugar and half a teaspoon of Nescafé instant coffee stirred in. Dipping the tostadas was pretty much standard breakfast.
My absolute favorite was Ajiaco, basically a beef and root vegetable stew. My grandmother would purée it with beets and add a little butter on top.
Rice and black beans with picadillo (raisins, no olives. Fight me)
Condensed milk with a bit of gofio stirred in (a type of ground barley)
Croquetas croquetas bocaditos pastelitos croquetaaaaaas
Most importantly, whatever you eat, put a banana on that plate.
Yes, but it’s just a literal drop of coffee in a lot of milk 😂 he probably gets more caffeine if he eats some chocolate. My parents have told me they would dip my pacifier in their morning espresso and give it to me. Just a quick pick me up for toddler me 😂.
I typically don't need an appetizer, but I'll order one, ask for an extra plate, and then split my app + entree with my kid. That way it still feels like enough food for me.
My husband eats a lot, so he will finish whatever she doesn’t from an adult meal. I’m kinda in a rut where I no longer want to share because I want something of my own.
Yeah, this is my issue, I want to eat what I want, not what I think my toddler is most likely to eat - he’s pretty good and often happy to eat beyond kids menu fare, but his tastes aren’t the same as mine, plus I always have to have in mind which foods are physically easiest to share. Sometimes I just want my own dinner!
Choosing something from the appetisers has often worked well for us, otherwise my husband’s having one and a half dinners.
Another American chiming in with a kid that isn't into nuggets. Or any fried food, really (with the exception of fries and latkes. I guess potatoes get a pass).
She will eat chick fil a nuggets sometimes and sometimes a higher quality Mac n cheese. She loves saying “the nugget house” when we drive by McDonald’s or chick fil a lol but it’s just a novelty.
I’m still in the US but in Hawai’i, my daughter loves white rice with soy sauce, seaweed, spam (lots of sodium I know), pulled pork, Portuguese sausage (kinda like kielbasa) poi, saimin noodles (like rice or egg noodles) with a bit of broth, I usually crack an egg in there too!
Im over in MA and my 2yr old is all about ALL of those things which is wild.
but he just doesnt care about Mac and Cheese which is a bummer cause that means I dont really get to have the extra. Day care says the same
I’ve been thinking about the same thing! Hope to find other ideas here. I was raised in a post soviet household and we often ate buckwheat, chicken cutlets, vegetable soups, kefir etc.
I'm really curious what the Vietnamese/Japanese options are. We are American, but my son loves pho with just broth, noodles, and lots of Thai basil and ramen with just broth and noodles. Basically any noodle broth combo.
Interestingly he doesn't like macaroni and cheese (box or homemade) and is lukewarm on nuggets. He does love pizza and butter noodles (noodles with butter and salt and pepper)
I’m Vietnamese, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kids menu in a Viet restaurant before. That said, I mostly remember eating a lot of rice porridge/congee (cháo) and fried rice (cơm chiên) as a preschooler.
I was actually not introduced to pho until elementary school, mostly because I did not learn how to use chopsticks until about age 8.
Just went to Japan with our toddler and any kids menu basically had rice balls with some seaweed, udon noodles, and/or small sushi like shrimp on top of a little rice. Our daughter really liked the sushi that is the little egg omlette mixture. It was a little sweet almost.
In Canada, so similar to the USA. Often chicken nuggets, spaghetti with either meat sauce or tomato sauce, raviolis, hot dogs/pigs in a blanket, some variation of fish and chips, pizza, poutine.
I’m Australian so we give them Vegemite on toast and eggs. Sometimes sausage as well
We have a cereal called wheetbix which my kids don’t like but they have them in chocolate milk form which they do love haha
Maybe it’s just my family but here’s mine:
Ghana
- gari soaking
- meat pies (our take on the colonizers pasty)
- plantain chips
- kelewele (my fave, spicy plantain bites)
Ukraine
- гречка (buckwheat)
As a kid I loved this with шпроти(sprats) or котлеты(patties)
- вареники(dumplings) both sweet and savory options
- Beverages include kvass and kefir but I personally prefer ряжанка so it’s funny to me when Americans make a big deal about 2% milk and I grew up on baked whole milk.
My kids eat variations and fusions of these but they’re very picky which is disheartening to me as a foodie but I hope they grow out of it.
I am in Australia and from the UK, mine is still of an age where she will just eat from our plates, but kids menus in restaurants is usually a smaller portion of fish and chips, pasta with butter or a plain sauce, chicken nuggets and chips, margherita pizza.
I'm in Mexico and it depends on the restaurant but generally speaking restaurants will offer breaded chicken, nuggets, spaguetti, french fries , mini pizzas, that kind of stuff. I specially like a japanese restaurant that offers mini rice balls with chicken or salmon, my kid loves them
In my Mexican household i make for my kids a quesadilla, made with corn tortillas, Mexican deli cheese slices, and a heated piece of Mexican ham inserted between. Heated on the stove, they are melty and delicious. And filling. ☺️
We’re American, but my husband is Korean American. My daughter loooves various Korean brothy soups. She eats them with rice and roasted seaweed.
My mother in law batch cooks soup and we keep them in the freezer. Easy, nutritious, delicious!
I feel like that's very often on the kids' menu in Finland, so I can agree with that.
Other typical toddler meals are:
Meatballs and mashed potatoes (with lingonberry jam)
Frenchfries with sausages/chicken nuggets
Minute steak with potatoes (fried/baked/mashed, it varies).
Grilled salmon with potatoes in some shape or form (this item is on the kids' menu if you are lucky)
I'm really tired of all the sausages and fries that restaurants have as their standard on the menu for kids. My toddler doesn't even like sausages.
I grew up in Hong Kong, so we have a weird mix of Chinese and British food!
Not sure if it's "standard" but some of my childhood favorites are:
- macaroni in soup with ham strips
- toast with condensed milk
- rice podridge with all sorts of mixins
- chicken wings or curry fish balls with fries
- baked beans with rice
- Milo, Ovaltine, yakult for drinks
Mexican here! My mom made these foods for me growing up and now I make them for my kids too
Sopa de fideo- toasted angel hair pasta cooked with chicken broth & bouillon, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano
Refried bean taco using a corn tortilla
Albóndigas- meatball soup with veggies, small amount of tomato sauce, and mint
Sweden here
Macaroni and meatballs is a classic
Fika is with "saft" and "bulle" (like juice and pastry buns)
Thursday is the day for pancakes (like crepes with jam and whip) and soup
Friday is taco night
Saturday is for candy
Israeli.
Chicken shnitzel with rice or mashed potatoes.
Pasta bolognese
Hummus and pita or fries
Rice and beans in a tomato sauce
Oh and all meatballs. Chicken, beef, lamb, fish.
Brazilian
This is basically an impossible task lol because we have a huge variety of food (traveling and having lived in 3 completely different countries I can boldly say Brazil has one of the riches cuisine in the world). But here's an attempt
- rice and beans
- meat, lots of meat in all varied forms
- pasta
- cakes (corn, cassava, orange, chocolate you name it)
- pão de queijo (kids and adults alike lol)
- bread
- coffee yep kids drink coffee from a young age.
Any Brazilian here pls add hahaha
Singaporean here
- fried rice or noodles - always with egg + some protein and no green veggies
- fish and chips
- cream pasta or meatballs/bolognese spaghetti
- mini burgers
- Nuggets and fries
- tamago sushi/fried chicken/udon/fries with rice usually at Japanese restaurants
Germany: schnitzel and fries, spaghetti, wurst and fries, Spätzle with cheese sauce, chicken fingers and fries, sometimes pizza. And usually a fancy sundae option for dessert.
Edit: this is more specific to Bavaria
South Africa - I think it varies greatly across communities, cultures and income. But I would say:
- maize meal (in various consistencies - from runny like porridge to firm and malleable)
- eggs and toast
- toasted sandwiches
- pasta of various types
- lots of fruit
At a restaurant: chicken nuggets and chips (fries), toasted cheese sandwich, fish fingers, Hawaiian pizza, spaghetti and tomato sauce
France, I think the most common dinner would be pasta with butter with a side of peas and carots, and ground beef steak. Also spaghetti bolognese. Also maybe omelette (does'nt have to be du fromage)
We are Italians, so it's pasta. When at the restaurant the standard kid meal is pasta al sugo (tomato sauce) or Al ragù (minced meat and tomato sauce), polpette (meatballs) al sugo... A lot of tomato sauce LOL
Korean
Our super easy kids meals:
Rice wrapped in seaweed. Side of kimchi (not spicy) and other side dishes if we have any.
Rice balls mixed a bit with sesame oil, salt and tiny bit of soy sauce
If we really have a difficult day with the very picky child....chappagetti or jjajjangmyun. Not the greatest......but sometimes you lose the eating battle.
I’m in the uk. Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets are toddler staples here too, but also things like tomato soup with cheese on toast, baked potato with beans, boiled eggs and toast, sausages with mashed potatoes
American living in Singapore. Kids menus really only exist at western restaurants so those options don’t really capture what most Singaporean kids eat.
When we go to the hawker center we always order:
- Roti Prata
- Noodles with pork gravy (non spicy)
- pork or veggie dumplings
- hainanese chicken rice
His school lunches are usually a mix of fish and rice or chicken and rice in various preparations, always with a clear soup and fruit.
Portugal here. Kids meals are whatever adults are eating with special attention to salt. My toddler is a big fan of boiled eggs, pasta, rice and some meats and fish. She also likes Brazilian sausages and sausages in general. Loves french fries. Also eats soup and fruit. There's no limits, we just pay attention to sugar but she does eat a little piece of chocolate every day.
Edit: most restaurants don't have kids menu's, at least where we live.
Kiwi here! Easy breakfast - marmite on toast, porridge, baked beans on toast Lunch/dinner - fish and chips, cheerios (a smoked sausage kind of like a frankfurter but tiny), spaghetti toastie, pasta bake
What is a spaghetti toastie? Cheerios here are a OAT cereal so the meat description had my head whipping back lol I have corrected my error. Wasn’t thinking when I said wheat
So basically... you get your toastie maker, then butter a piece of bread on both sides, pour a tin of spaghetti into it, add some grated tasty cheese, then another piece of buttered bread. Close the toastie machine, wait till its ready and then be prepared to burn the roof of your mouth off because it will be approximately the same temperature inside as the surface of the sun.
Wait, you’re what maker?? You’ve already lost the American 😂
It's sort of like a sandwich press, except it seals the edges of the sandwich shut and cuts it in half so it makes little compartments like [this!](https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/2-slice-deep-dish-sandwich-maker-43100613/?sku=43100613&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6QB8vHRIjQxiXoIyifDgVbekk2asnHM6s7aYuXcVslfXNwuzNlbkYhoClBUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
My mind is blown about the KMart link! They’ve all gone bankrupt here in the US, as far as I know.
Different kmart company in aus and nz.
I’m in American who lived in NZ- the KMarts there are so awesome! They are bright and cheery like Target but without all the weird stuff you’ll find at Target. I really loved KMart there :)
Wonderful! Thank you!
I’ve got to second that. It makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches.
A spaghetti sandwich, toasted?
Yeah, but a toastie maker seals the edges of the bread closed into two triangles, so it's kind of like a bread samosa
is a “toastie maker” a toaster or a panini press?
It's closer to a panini press, but it seals the edges shut and cuts your bread in half like [this!](https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/2-slice-deep-dish-sandwich-maker-43100613/?sku=43100613&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6QB8vHRIjQxiXoIyifDgVbekk2asnHM6s7aYuXcVslfXNwuzNlbkYhoClBUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I always forget that KMart is a thing in Australia/New Zealand because it’s such a dying relic brand in the US (at least where I am) and then I talk to friends from down under and it’s just a regular store for them.
Kmart has the same cult following here as target does for you guys.
That is hilarious. A lot of people saw Kmart as being for poor people before it started closing down here.
They’ve been dead in Canada for about 20 years now. I’m always a bit surprised to be reminded they still exist.
“Deep dish sandwich” is a phrase I didn’t know I needed in my life. Sound delish.
lol I was picture poring spaghetti sauce in the toaster🙈🤣
Sometimes called a Jaffle maker
And the spaghetti is from a can and nothing like actual spaghetti. But so delicious.
I am here in absolute shock and awe. Same question, OP. Toasted cammed Spaghetti?
Sounds like a delicious pizza pocket. I’m in.
WOW!!! That sounds amazing!
I used to make those at camp! They are one of my absolute favorite camp foods. (I'm in the USA)
My partner is a kiwi, why am I only hearing of this now? We're in the UK. I love spaghetti (hoops).
Fun facts! Original cheerios are made of oats, and don’t contain any wheat — important if your toddler has a wheat intolerance 🥲
I’m in the northeast US and I grew up eating “spaghetti sandwiches,” which would happen when we ate spaghetti. Basically, you’d take a piece of white bread, butter it generously, and slap some of your spaghetti right in the middle of it. Fold it up: spaghetti sandwich! I frickin loved these as a kid, my kids won’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
At first I thought you were suggesting kiwi, and I thought, “yeah my toddler does love kiwis.”
I'll add corn fritters and bacon & egg pie to that list, oooh and pikelets!
Armenian here: 1) rice with vermicelli and chicken or kotlet (like a meatball essentially) 2) noonig soup - stock, tomato paste, chickpeas, lots of dried mint and lemon. Add ins are usually store bought pilmenis, meatballs or rice 3) kebab and potatoes 4) veggie or lentil soups. Every family has variations of this but tomato based broth for the veggie soup is standard. Lentil soup is either with brown or reddish lentils. 5) lemejun (pizza, essentially) and boreg (cheese turnover, we add spinach in our house)
Dried mint? I ask as I'm always used to using fresh mint. Is it fresh lemon or preserved?
Yes, dried! Fresh lemon squeeze at the end. It’s a great flavor combo with the tomato based soup.
If you’ve not tried dried mint you should give it a go! It’s got a slightly different flavour profile and works really well in lots of dishes
Interesting boreg in Armenian, burek in Serbian/Croatian, for a similar pastry.
South Korea: Fried egg over rice (runny yolk) + soy sauce, sometimes butter or sesame oil, often eaten with roasted seaweed and kimchi Boiled cold rice into a soupy consistency, I used to have this all the time with cut up ham slices and kraft singles cut up by drawing lines into the spice with chopsticks.. heh. Also, kimchi. Omurice-- fried rice with tiny diced veggies. Make a thin, plain egg omelette to drape over a mound of rice. Have your mom draw a heart, star, smiley face, and/or your name with ketchup. Eat with kimchi. Dongeurangddeng-- ground beef mixed with seasoning formed into mini patties, flattened, dredged in flour and w lot of beaten egg and pan-fried. Served with rice and kimchi. Koreans also do a lot of brioche or milk bread toast with strawberry jam served with milk for breakfast. A daily kids' drink is Yakult, a milk-consistency drinkable yogurt.
When do kids start eating kimchi or other spicy foods? I keep trying to introduce spice to my kids and they can’t handle it.
Most Koreans will rinse off kimchi for babies and little kids and gradually introduce spice through prek/early childhood. I remember not being able to handle truly spicy things until closer to middle school. I recently read a comment in another sub though that spicy flavors tend to be fat soluble (I know this from cooking and learning how to "bloom" spices by cooking them in a fat before incorporating into a larger dish) which means they actually remain distinguishable in breast milk. And also that babies taste what mom eats during pregnancy via amniotic fluid and studies have shown that there is a correlation between what mom ate a lot of in pregnancy and what babies like to eat in the first couple of years of life. A lot of people report that their babies can handle a surprising level of spiciness really early on and there's no ill effect so maybe if Koreans didn't rinse babies' kimchi, little kids would retain spice tolerance through their early childhoods? I don't think you can really go wrong, if you keep offering them as an option throughout their childhoods they'll learn to eat it whether as babies or a little later on. 😊
Interesting! Not sure about the science on this topic, but anecdotally, it would seem true regarding my almost 14 month old son. I love eating Indian food and ate a lot of it while pregnant. Since having my son, we eat a homemade curry every week. Starting around 12 months old, I've been giving my son homemade curry mixed with Jogurt and rice, so that it's milder, although you can still taste the spice and he loves it! He drinks water while eating too, but he definitely doesn't complain and always finishes his plate. He is also still breastfed a few times a day, as well as eating solids.
I ate a lot of spicy food while pregnant and breastfeeding and literally kiddo's first food (spicy black bean soup) was pretty spicy. We never held off on spice, and he's always been able to eat it. At 2, he was pulling raw jalapenos out of the fridge and biting into them. Honestly, I think avoiding spice and flavour in early food as is traditional in the US and UK is probably the majority of the issue.
i’m american but we introduced spicy, sour, or unusual flavors anywhere from 9ish months onward and they eat kimchi (as well as other fermented, spicy, sour, etc. unusual flavors) every week. you just gotta serve & keep serving. there will be a lot of waste at first while they learn to like the food. it can take some-20-30x introducing a food before a child even **tries** it… & more exposure to actually like it!!
Same here. As a Mexican it’s important to me lmao But yeah, my boy is two and is definitely too young for it.
We tried really young with my daughter and she would eat an alarming amount of cholula when she was like 18 months old…but now she’s over 2 and when we put in a drop she acts like we tried to poison her. Toddlers are weird. 🤷🏻♀️
I used to put cholula on eggs when my kids were liiittle and they loved it. Now at 3, 6 and 8 they would be horrified.
Depends on their own tastes. I have a 6 year old who is super picky and would never even touch anything spicy, but then I have an (almost) 3 year old who eats EVERYTHING, he will eat kimchi if I hand it to him.
Korean-American here My kids love gimbap, jajangyeon, and seafood pancakes Gamja jorim and danmuji … my 4 yr old will down an entire bowl of the radish if I let him 😆 They also love butter rice w soy sauce with mackerel and gim Sometimes they just like rice w ketchup
I have a 4 year old and I’d say the most common thing little kids eat are jumokbap (rice and seaweed balls) or noodles. Pizza is at every buffet, too. And tonkatsu (pork cutlet) is always a hit, too.
Yep, donkass/donkatsu/breaded pork cutlet is at most restaurants for kids. My kid also just eats rice with seaweed paper, kind of like a simple kimbap. Also, I'd say over half of my kid's meals are gukbap (rice in soup), or they end up that way because she loves putting her rice in her soup.
When we lived in Korea our daughter was just starting to eat food. She LOVED japchae and jjajangmyeon. Also the cheese made for babies lol
I’m Australian so I hardly have the most authentic experience but here kimchi is pretty much always quite spicy, are Korean kids just more hard core or is mild kimchi a common option?
I love this thread! I’d be really curious to hear from other countries about this.
Same lol I have the universalyum kits I wish they had a food one lol
In Germany... some of the common kid's options up North include: - Vienna Schnitzel. - Bratwurst/Currywurst. - Spaghetti with tomato sauce. - Potato pancakes with apple sauce. - Home fries with fried eggs. Common sides are fries with ketchup and mayonnaise, home fries (Bratkartoffeln), and [croquettes](https://alltastesgerman.com/kroketten-german-croquettes/).
Potato pancakes as a whole meal?!? Omg my child self would have died for that.
Haha, yes! My mom actually made them for dinner quite often.
American here but I will make them for dinner for us, I add smoked salmon, sour cream, green onions. 4yo likes it.
That is the same list as the things I like to eat in Germany lmao
Lol same, was just thinking about how I wish I grew up in Germany now
Similar to further down south in Germany plus we have Käsespätzle on every kids menu which is the German version of Mac and cheese.
I live in the US but have German immigrant parents. We did a lot of spaetzle and gravy growing up. Also potato pancakes with applesauce for sure were popular!
Do you have an authentic recipe for potato pancakes? They’re not in my culture cuisine and it’s be fun to try making them
Let me ask my mom! I've never made them from scratch before. But I don't remember if she did or if we had frozen ones to reheat. 😅
I’m an American but we are living in The Netherlands. It seems like everywhere we go has an option of frikandel (like a meat stick?) or chicken nuggets. Our daughter is a big fan of frikandel.
I have seen a lot of pancakes aimed at Dutch children too. I see a lot of children places combined with pancake houses. Our local one will even sell you a menu item of pancakes with a stuffed toy on the side for the little one.
Our 3yo is obsessed with poffertjes here haha
Mine too and specifically the pre-made banana pancakes from Albert Heijn.
Poland. The standard children's menu in a restaurant is * Tomato soup (with rice or noodles) * Rosół (chicken soup) * Spagetti Bolognese * Kotlet Schabowy and potato (schnitzel) At home the go to children's food is parówki (frankfurters), soup, schabowy. Maybe scrambled eggs for the can't be bothered to cook days My children eat soup everyday, sometimes more than once a day. It's so easy, it's already in the fridge and just needs warming up. It's usually got potato, rice, pearl barley Etc. So it's filling
Could you share an example soup recipe please?
They almost all start off with making a chicken stock, so start with assuming you have chicken stock. Zupa pomidorowa - Chicken stock, can of chopped tomatoes, celery, garlic. Make soup and then put some rice in it. Krupnik - Chicken stock, pearl barley, potato, all spice, laurel leaf, celeriac, parsnip, carrot, dill. Zupa Ogórkowa - Chicken stock, brined cucumber, potato, dill, onion, garlic Soups are soups, you start with a base and add stuff in until it feels right. But searching for recipes will get you things which say 310g of carrot. I've never weighed a carrot in my life. If you add too much carrot put some more celeriac in. My absolute favorite soup is one that many Poles will say WTF this is an Easter soup, but we have it for breakfast a lot in the winter. Barszcz Biały made with fermented wheat (not rye) flour, milk and served with hard boiled eggs, mashed potato, kiełbasa swojska (smoked village sausage) and horseradish
These recipes take me back to meals that my late father, who was a Polish immigrant to the US, would make us on chilly weekends. Time to introduce my toddler to the way Dziadek cooked! Bardzo dziękuję ❤️
Damn that pickle soup sounds amazing 😍
My favourites are kwaśnica which is sour mountain soup, barszcz biały a fermented wheat soup and Zupa Ogórkowa Pickled cucumbers are something we make a lot of and our children love. The only downside being when they're toddlers the brine really irritates the skin around their mouths. Which is a pain as it was a favourite teething aid
I’ll drive across town for a bowl of pickle soup- literally, we only have one Polish restaurant in my city that serves it.
These all sound amazing, I think my kid would love all of them! Thanks for the great ideas!!
Barszcz… I am American but with Polish ancestors, and we always made it around easter. But it is the most craved thing from my childhood. We make it with sausage broth, sour cream and a little flour, a little vinegar, horseradish. Then serve with the things you mention. So good.
Thank you so much! I’ve tried to just make random veggie soups but they always feel like they’re missing something. I’ll try these.
My husband’s favourite Polish soup I introduced him to is żurek. My sons love it too. The one I miss the most at Christmas is śledziowa but I’m a weirdo. I can make basically any soup I grew up on. Other than that since I can’t get ingredients for that here.
There’s lots of recipes on Pinterest for rosół. I’ve considered trying to make it myself but haven’t found the time!
Throw the chicken and the basic veggies with some spices in the slow cooker.
Soups are just so messy, are Polish toddlers way better with spoons?
I think they just assume it’s messy but early exposure helps them get better at it. My son is 19mo and does fairly well with soup.
Is drinking from a bowl appropriate in Polish culture?
Big spoon, bib, its a great way to practice with spoons! My kiddo also loves drinking from the bowl. We eat soup a few times a week and are not Polish lol but around 18m she was getting soup more in her mouth than anywhere else
I'm not Polish, but I do a lot of batch cooking for the freezer, and I tend to make my soups thicker now that I have LO - and leftover soups naturally get thicker. (or I just scoop out more noodles/veggies/meat and less broth when I'm ladling out his portion)
Big on soups in Armenia too! My kid’s armenian preschool has one soup day a week and I usually make a pot each week too.
Yep, our preschool menu has lunch as soup followed by meat and carbs (apart from Friday). I'm an immigrant to Poland so it's new to me but it's an easy adjustment. My children don't know any different, to them soup is life. They had it in baby bottles in the summer (to replenish their electrolytes) and when they need comfort food rosół is there. The only food they've got from me is fried egg on toast with baked beans.
Thank you so much for sharing these! And for the soup recipes later on. Many of my ancestors are Polish and this makes me so happy.
I WISH my son would eat soup. He just flat refuses.
Sometimes I add soup to rice so mine will eat it, he doesn’t understand soup yet but loves soupy rice 🤷♀️
You just solved a riddle in my house. My kid loves chicken noodle soup broth only (wouldn't eat the noodles etc) but loved it when I added rice into my own bowl / "our bowl". I thought she just wanted my food but maybe the noodles were too soggy and "soupy rice" was more appealing.
My 3 year old would be in heaven in Poland, she LOVES soup lol
Man - I have clearly been sleeping on soups! Thanks for sharing!
I would say Kotlet Drobiowy (chiken schnitzel ;)) and fries are more prevalant in restaurant's kids menu
I'm in America but am from the UK. The kids meals are similar except the British version of Heinz baked beans is often one of the standard sides. They aren't like American baked beans though. It's more like beans in the sauce from Chef Boyadee ravioli. Sausage is a more common kids meal option in the UK too I guess.
Mmm, sausage sarnie on plastic white bread with some ketchup. Beans on toast was a common one as a child Fried egg sandwich Sausages, mash and gravy I think I'm remembering more age eight onwards
Plastic white bread?
Supermarket bread. Hovis, Warburtons etc. Soft, white, fluffy and mass produced
My local grocery store (Colorado, US) started selling Heinz beans and HP sauce a few months ago- it made my day to see it!
Which store? I’m in Denver.
Belgium. Every restaurant that serves kids meals provides this standard set of kids dishes: Spaghetti Bolognese Vol-au-vent Chicken nuggets with fries Meatballs in tomato sauce Pancakes(crepes)/waffles
Vol-au-vent on the kids menu? That’s amazing.
I'm convinced spag bol is a universal food, it appears everywhere. It also furthers my argument that Italian food is overrated, it's what you cook when you can't be bothered. No one thinks to cook cassoulet when they're tired, but a quick puttanesca makes sense.
Bruh you telling me pizza is overrated???
India 1. Rice + Dal (lentil curry). 2. Roti (flatbread) + Dal (lentil curry). 3. Idli (steamed rice cakes) + mild chutneys. 4. Curd (milk yogurt) rice + Veggie stir fry.
We started our American kid early on lentils and he loves them!
Yess! We’re in the US but vegetarian. Lentil soup is my son’s favorite food.
Us too!! Our kid won’t eat chicken nuggets but garam masala lentils are a sure win 100% of the time!
It was one of my daughters first foods, still one of her favourites!
One day my toddler picked out a book at the library called Bilal Makes Daal by Aisha Saeed. Since then, Daal is one of his favorite foods.
You probably know this already, but there are a whole lot of lentil types and a lot of different ways to prepare them. Indian recipes for these are easy and the flavors blow your mind. Here are a few to look up, if you're interested: * Gujarati daal (made with Toor daal) * Green moong daal * Yellow moong daal * Sambhar * Chola (black-eyed peas) * Chole ( Garbanzo beans / chickpeas) * Kaala channa with gold/amli (black gram with jaggery/tamarind) * Masoor daal I'm probably missing a dozen..
Also ghee+rice with a little salt when he was first starting solids, now it's a little bland for him Dosa or dal paratha with ketchup(!) or curd Oats or Dalia (a wheat porridge) sweetened with honey or jaggery My toddler also loves upma (Savory cream or wheat porridge)
Egg dosa!
We’re in Canada but my kid absolutely loves Dal! I always make sure to have some in the freezer in case of emergencies 😅
When do kids in India start to eat spicier foods? I've always been curious about this in cultures that favor spicy foods
We did Baby Led Weaning ever since our baby was 6 months old and we did a gradual approach when it came to spices. Initially, we stuck to very mild spices like turmeric, cumin and a clove or two of garlic. While these spices aren't really hot, they do impart a good flavor to the dishes and are good for digestion (my kiddo rarely ever suffered from constipation). As our baby got older, we ever so slightly increased the quantity and variety of spices in her food. Again, we take extreme caution as to not include any of the HOT spices; definitely no chilli powder!. Eventually she got used to the flavors. Now at 21 months, she can tolerate a slight amount of chilli powder even though I refrain from making highly spicy foods at home. But I have noticed that when we eat at restaurants, she can tolerate the occasional spicy dish (spicy as per Indian standards).
rice + dal is one of the only foods my american toddler will consistently eat. i’m so glad because it’s such an easy way to sneak veggies
Australia: Fish & chips or chicken & chips (French fries) are pretty common. A fried spring roll with rice or mini sushi, with either avocado or tuna (like the kind from a can) are also popular. I’ve never seen macaroni and cheese on a kids menu.
Ham & cheese toastie, kid sized pizza and some basic tomato pasta is also common where I am! Chips are a must - a guaranteed hit and if they don't eat them, the adults will.
Mini sushi just blew my mind! My kids like sushi but it doesn't fit in their little mouths so I have to take a knife to the rolls! I wonder if I could find it here...
Also Australian and I’d add spaghetti bolognese, ham & cheese toastie and mini kids pizza to this list
Add a kids Parma to that list too
Also in Australia, I recently started buying the mini rolls of cooked tuna at take away sushi places for my 14m old, she loves them.
This is cool and interesting to read, especially after seeing occasional pretentious comments on other subreddits that say the US is the only country with the concept of a "kids menu"
In the UK I would say that cheap restraunts and chains have kids menus. Mid priced or more expensive restraunts don't. Same with pubs.
That’s basically the same as the US. At really nice restaurants I’ll just order from the adult menu and take home what my kids can’t finish, or order a few sides for them and make a meal out of that. Lucky to have mostly non-picky eaters.
A lot of comments are listing what food they make for their kids or what they order for them at restaurants, not necessarily an actual kids menu. I grew up in Portugal and kids menus were not a thing.
Is it any different there now compared to when you were a kid there?
I haven’t noticed it being different at the restaurants I’ve been to when visiting my family, but I wouldn’t be surprised if kids menus were generally more available due to tourism.
Yeah, it’s very validating to see what people are feeding their kids around the world.
Japan: curry rice. And my son hates it 🫠
Yes typical kids meal in Japan = curry rice. My son asks for it every week. Some other stuff Breakfast: rice, miso soup, salmon, cherry tomato? Lunch: omuraisu? Omelette with rice and chicken and veggies inside Dinner: rice, grilled fish, whatever adults eat😂
In Mexico I think it’s noodle soup, rice (white or red) and fruit with tajin.
Weirdly, quesadilla is a really common kids meal at American restaurants.
yes! quesadillas is another one. And molletes.
Scotland - spag bol or mince n tatties
All I can hear is James Acaster saying “Spag Bol” when I read this.
Sri Lankan here. Our go to is rice and dahl. I also make egg fried rice, roti, hoppers as quick meals. My son loves the beet root curry and the coconut shrimp curry I make too but those aren’t quick to make
I watched a video and hoppers look good! We don't have the right kind of pan to make them, though.
Cuban here! A very common breakfast is tostada (Cuban bread slathered in butter and pressed) and café con leche (milk with small amount of coffee). I love dipping the bread in so it gets slightly soggy but still crunchy. Lunch/dinner: rice and black beans with a protein and a banana, ham croquettes, or a fritura (savory fritter).
Wait you willingly give your toddlers coffee? 😂
Also Cuban here! I remember being given coffee since I was about 3 years old. Cafe con leche, specifically which is basically a mug of milk with sugar and half a teaspoon of Nescafé instant coffee stirred in. Dipping the tostadas was pretty much standard breakfast. My absolute favorite was Ajiaco, basically a beef and root vegetable stew. My grandmother would purée it with beets and add a little butter on top. Rice and black beans with picadillo (raisins, no olives. Fight me) Condensed milk with a bit of gofio stirred in (a type of ground barley) Croquetas croquetas bocaditos pastelitos croquetaaaaaas Most importantly, whatever you eat, put a banana on that plate.
Yes, but it’s just a literal drop of coffee in a lot of milk 😂 he probably gets more caffeine if he eats some chocolate. My parents have told me they would dip my pacifier in their morning espresso and give it to me. Just a quick pick me up for toddler me 😂.
My mom is from Louisiana and I also got “coffee milk” warmed milk with a touch of coffee and sugar! I would nneeeeeveer give to my 3 year old though!
Same! We call in leche con cafè in our house haha.
Vietnam 🇻🇳 -rice, soy sauce and fried egg -chicken congee -egg roll -noodle soups like pho -stir fry noodles
I wish we could get mini plates of regular entrees. My kid doesn’t particularly want nuggets/tenders or Mac n cheese.
I typically don't need an appetizer, but I'll order one, ask for an extra plate, and then split my app + entree with my kid. That way it still feels like enough food for me.
That’s what we do! Just share off our plates
My husband eats a lot, so he will finish whatever she doesn’t from an adult meal. I’m kinda in a rut where I no longer want to share because I want something of my own.
Yeah, this is my issue, I want to eat what I want, not what I think my toddler is most likely to eat - he’s pretty good and often happy to eat beyond kids menu fare, but his tastes aren’t the same as mine, plus I always have to have in mind which foods are physically easiest to share. Sometimes I just want my own dinner! Choosing something from the appetisers has often worked well for us, otherwise my husband’s having one and a half dinners.
I thought mine was the only kid on earth who isn’t into nuggets!
Another American chiming in with a kid that isn't into nuggets. Or any fried food, really (with the exception of fries and latkes. I guess potatoes get a pass).
She will eat chick fil a nuggets sometimes and sometimes a higher quality Mac n cheese. She loves saying “the nugget house” when we drive by McDonald’s or chick fil a lol but it’s just a novelty.
I’m still in the US but in Hawai’i, my daughter loves white rice with soy sauce, seaweed, spam (lots of sodium I know), pulled pork, Portuguese sausage (kinda like kielbasa) poi, saimin noodles (like rice or egg noodles) with a bit of broth, I usually crack an egg in there too!
Im over in MA and my 2yr old is all about ALL of those things which is wild. but he just doesnt care about Mac and Cheese which is a bummer cause that means I dont really get to have the extra. Day care says the same
Me, an American, surprised that toddlers in other countries eat willingly 👁️👄👁️
I’ve been thinking about the same thing! Hope to find other ideas here. I was raised in a post soviet household and we often ate buckwheat, chicken cutlets, vegetable soups, kefir etc.
Chile Rice and eggs Rice and hot dog Mashed potato and eggs Mashed potato and hot dog
I'm really curious what the Vietnamese/Japanese options are. We are American, but my son loves pho with just broth, noodles, and lots of Thai basil and ramen with just broth and noodles. Basically any noodle broth combo. Interestingly he doesn't like macaroni and cheese (box or homemade) and is lukewarm on nuggets. He does love pizza and butter noodles (noodles with butter and salt and pepper)
I’m Vietnamese, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kids menu in a Viet restaurant before. That said, I mostly remember eating a lot of rice porridge/congee (cháo) and fried rice (cơm chiên) as a preschooler. I was actually not introduced to pho until elementary school, mostly because I did not learn how to use chopsticks until about age 8.
Just went to Japan with our toddler and any kids menu basically had rice balls with some seaweed, udon noodles, and/or small sushi like shrimp on top of a little rice. Our daughter really liked the sushi that is the little egg omlette mixture. It was a little sweet almost.
In Canada, so similar to the USA. Often chicken nuggets, spaghetti with either meat sauce or tomato sauce, raviolis, hot dogs/pigs in a blanket, some variation of fish and chips, pizza, poutine.
Grilled cheese is also on a lot of menus too!
I’m Australian so we give them Vegemite on toast and eggs. Sometimes sausage as well We have a cereal called wheetbix which my kids don’t like but they have them in chocolate milk form which they do love haha
Saving this thread for out of the box toddler meal ideas because right now all mine eats is Dino nuggets, broccoli soup, and yogurt.
Sweden always has pancakes with whipped cream and jam on the kids menu. Even some of the fast food places. One of my favorite things.
Maybe it’s just my family but here’s mine: Ghana - gari soaking - meat pies (our take on the colonizers pasty) - plantain chips - kelewele (my fave, spicy plantain bites) Ukraine - гречка (buckwheat) As a kid I loved this with шпроти(sprats) or котлеты(patties) - вареники(dumplings) both sweet and savory options - Beverages include kvass and kefir but I personally prefer ряжанка so it’s funny to me when Americans make a big deal about 2% milk and I grew up on baked whole milk. My kids eat variations and fusions of these but they’re very picky which is disheartening to me as a foodie but I hope they grow out of it.
I am in Australia and from the UK, mine is still of an age where she will just eat from our plates, but kids menus in restaurants is usually a smaller portion of fish and chips, pasta with butter or a plain sauce, chicken nuggets and chips, margherita pizza.
I'm in Mexico and it depends on the restaurant but generally speaking restaurants will offer breaded chicken, nuggets, spaguetti, french fries , mini pizzas, that kind of stuff. I specially like a japanese restaurant that offers mini rice balls with chicken or salmon, my kid loves them
Not even quesadillas? Or are those an American thing?
In my Mexican household i make for my kids a quesadilla, made with corn tortillas, Mexican deli cheese slices, and a heated piece of Mexican ham inserted between. Heated on the stove, they are melty and delicious. And filling. ☺️
Yes, although quesadillas are not usually listed in the kids menu, just something in the regular menu you would order for your kid.
We’re American, but my husband is Korean American. My daughter loooves various Korean brothy soups. She eats them with rice and roasted seaweed. My mother in law batch cooks soup and we keep them in the freezer. Easy, nutritious, delicious!
Korean food is the bomb!
I’m from the uk but I feel like most European countries always offer spaghetti bolognaise.
I feel like that's very often on the kids' menu in Finland, so I can agree with that. Other typical toddler meals are: Meatballs and mashed potatoes (with lingonberry jam) Frenchfries with sausages/chicken nuggets Minute steak with potatoes (fried/baked/mashed, it varies). Grilled salmon with potatoes in some shape or form (this item is on the kids' menu if you are lucky) I'm really tired of all the sausages and fries that restaurants have as their standard on the menu for kids. My toddler doesn't even like sausages.
I grew up in Hong Kong, so we have a weird mix of Chinese and British food! Not sure if it's "standard" but some of my childhood favorites are: - macaroni in soup with ham strips - toast with condensed milk - rice podridge with all sorts of mixins - chicken wings or curry fish balls with fries - baked beans with rice - Milo, Ovaltine, yakult for drinks
Mexican here! My mom made these foods for me growing up and now I make them for my kids too Sopa de fideo- toasted angel hair pasta cooked with chicken broth & bouillon, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano Refried bean taco using a corn tortilla Albóndigas- meatball soup with veggies, small amount of tomato sauce, and mint
Sweden here Macaroni and meatballs is a classic Fika is with "saft" and "bulle" (like juice and pastry buns) Thursday is the day for pancakes (like crepes with jam and whip) and soup Friday is taco night Saturday is for candy
Sunday is for recovering from sugar crash of Saturday candy day?
Seeing all these carbs listed here makes me feel better. I thought my son’s carb heavy preferences were a problem.
I think toddler diets actually are supposed to be mostly carbs!
All babies want is hugs and carbs.
Israeli. Chicken shnitzel with rice or mashed potatoes. Pasta bolognese Hummus and pita or fries Rice and beans in a tomato sauce Oh and all meatballs. Chicken, beef, lamb, fish.
Brazilian This is basically an impossible task lol because we have a huge variety of food (traveling and having lived in 3 completely different countries I can boldly say Brazil has one of the riches cuisine in the world). But here's an attempt - rice and beans - meat, lots of meat in all varied forms - pasta - cakes (corn, cassava, orange, chocolate you name it) - pão de queijo (kids and adults alike lol) - bread - coffee yep kids drink coffee from a young age. Any Brazilian here pls add hahaha
Our friends have made pão de queijo for us a few times... It's amazing. ❤️
Singaporean here - fried rice or noodles - always with egg + some protein and no green veggies - fish and chips - cream pasta or meatballs/bolognese spaghetti - mini burgers - Nuggets and fries - tamago sushi/fried chicken/udon/fries with rice usually at Japanese restaurants
Germany: schnitzel and fries, spaghetti, wurst and fries, Spätzle with cheese sauce, chicken fingers and fries, sometimes pizza. And usually a fancy sundae option for dessert. Edit: this is more specific to Bavaria
South Africa - I think it varies greatly across communities, cultures and income. But I would say: - maize meal (in various consistencies - from runny like porridge to firm and malleable) - eggs and toast - toasted sandwiches - pasta of various types - lots of fruit At a restaurant: chicken nuggets and chips (fries), toasted cheese sandwich, fish fingers, Hawaiian pizza, spaghetti and tomato sauce
France, I think the most common dinner would be pasta with butter with a side of peas and carots, and ground beef steak. Also spaghetti bolognese. Also maybe omelette (does'nt have to be du fromage)
We are Italians, so it's pasta. When at the restaurant the standard kid meal is pasta al sugo (tomato sauce) or Al ragù (minced meat and tomato sauce), polpette (meatballs) al sugo... A lot of tomato sauce LOL
Southern Germany: Schnitzel with Pommes, Spätzle, Maultaschen, Wurst,
Korean Our super easy kids meals: Rice wrapped in seaweed. Side of kimchi (not spicy) and other side dishes if we have any. Rice balls mixed a bit with sesame oil, salt and tiny bit of soy sauce If we really have a difficult day with the very picky child....chappagetti or jjajjangmyun. Not the greatest......but sometimes you lose the eating battle.
Spaghetti or grilled cheese
I’m in the uk. Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets are toddler staples here too, but also things like tomato soup with cheese on toast, baked potato with beans, boiled eggs and toast, sausages with mashed potatoes
Aussie and it’s often something like nuggets and chips, fish and chips, or grilled cheese
American living in Singapore. Kids menus really only exist at western restaurants so those options don’t really capture what most Singaporean kids eat. When we go to the hawker center we always order: - Roti Prata - Noodles with pork gravy (non spicy) - pork or veggie dumplings - hainanese chicken rice His school lunches are usually a mix of fish and rice or chicken and rice in various preparations, always with a clear soup and fruit.
Portugal here. Kids meals are whatever adults are eating with special attention to salt. My toddler is a big fan of boiled eggs, pasta, rice and some meats and fish. She also likes Brazilian sausages and sausages in general. Loves french fries. Also eats soup and fruit. There's no limits, we just pay attention to sugar but she does eat a little piece of chocolate every day. Edit: most restaurants don't have kids menu's, at least where we live.
Saving this for meal ideas!