For years it's been the same old cries of 'Macaroni Cheese please Mum' followed by 'I hate that can I have sausages please'. For those of you that know us, you'll know which kid said which!
As soon as we mentioned about going to India things changed and an interest grew in all things curried. But how do you start introducing such food without wanting to cook a decent meal and then having to hurriedly cook something else (maccy cheese / sausages).
I dreamt up 'International Food Day' where we'd spend all afternoon with the kids preparing a dinner that they would eat. Generally we'd cook a few main courses and buy in a few starters. This approach went very well although International Food Day only made it over to China once before the kids said "can we have curry again". Good news, they're hooked.
Next, on one of their school's teacher training days, I took them to Cafe Tusk in Fareham. A great restaurant with an always on, all you can eat buffet, with a great selection of food. The best bit being the price: lunchtime for adults is only £6.99, for kids under 10 it's only £3.50. This turned out to be a great idea as it allowed them to try a very small bit of many different foods before filling up on the newly discovered preferences: Amy, anything Tikka; Emilia, Korma and Bhuna.
Since then the Winchcombe Sunday Roast has been replaced by Curry Sunday where Emilia and I have prepared loads of new dishes, even down to Puris and Chicken Cafreal. The best bit for me was a couple of weeks ago when whilst chopping chillies I tried to get them to eat a bit of raw chilly. Emilia tried it straight away, Amy more hesitant, Jane even more so. After the dish was cooked and contained large slices of green chillies, Emilia tucked in saying 'they're not that hot'. Good girl!