I prefer Tex-Mex food; kids want FFB food. WWYD?

amother

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 9:41 am

I'm a BT and I don't really enjoy FFB food (ashkenazi, anyway). I grew up in a majority Latino area and prefer Americanized Mexican food like burritos, enchilada casserole, chili and cornbread, fajitas, tacos. My FFB kids love these foods, but now they're getting older and they want me to make more "normal" foods so they can be like their friends. Meaning meatballs, chicken in sugar sauce, shnitzel. I find these flavors bland and blah and I would end up eating a PB sandwich if I made those kind of suppers. WWYD?

DrMom

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 10:02 am

Not sure how "FFB" is a type of food. As long as it's kosher, it's "frum." There are Mexican frum Jews, you know.

If your kids are inviting their friends over to eat at their home then I understand them wanting something their friends will like too. But it seems stupid to change one's eating habits if one isn't even eating with one's friends.

I'd tell them that when they establish their own households, they can make all the bland food they want, but while you are running the household, you will not be subject to their culinary peer pressure.

PinkFridge

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 10:27 am

amother wrote:

Quote:

Not sure how "FFB" is a type of food. As long as it's kosher, it's "frum." There are Mexican frum Jews, you know.

True. I meant American New Yorky FFB. Heavy on sugar and animal products, light on flavor. Smile

I'm FFB, with limited taste for international foods, though I experiment occasionally. I do NOT do the sugar/duck sauce thing. You can still make traditional type foods without them, maybe some sort of compromise. If they really want a certain taste, maybe you can use pure apricot spread sometimes. Hatzlacha!

imasinger

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 10:29 am

Another vote for compromise, and/or letting them do the cooking once in a while. Can you try adding hot sauce to the sweet and sour meatballs on your plate, or dipping your shnitzel in it? Can you serve side dishes you like, or plan fusion meals with elements of both cuisines?

Find out what is the real issue. Are they getting teased for having (pareve/milchig) burritos in their lunchbox? Are friends declining invitations to stay for dinner or sleep over? Or are they afraid that might happen (common kid anxiety), and are therefore trying to prevent the (assumed) problem? Or have they had these foods at friends' houses and just enjoy them?

Whatever you do, try to avoid major food battles, which can lead to eating issues.

Tzippora

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 10:39 am

I cook with heavy spices - I come from an NY ashkenazi background but I happen to love all sorts of international flavors and the only thing constraining me is that DH has a limited tolerance for heat, whereas I would throw chilis in everything. If anyone knows how I can find ingredients to cook thai that are hechshered, I'll be eternally grateful!

What might help is cooking stuff that has flavor but "looks" normal. So maybe things that aren't complicated to assemble (tacos, fajitas, etc) but have the spicing you like

For example, this chicken looks like regular roasted chicken legs but have a great spicy flavor. I cook them over cubed potatoes and sweet potatoes and you get a meal that looks fairly traditional but has a real kick.
http://www.epicurious.com/reci.....31997

Or, I just started making this salad, adding a bunch of mixed greens as well. Makes it look like a regular green shabbos salad, but the flavors are all there. And you could throw ground meat with tex mex spices in there as well: http://www.onceuponachef.com/2......html

Also, I would love to get some of your recipes! Smile

ally

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 10:59 am

Tzippora wrote:

What Thai ingredients are you looking for? There are a few brands which make ready made curry pastes and I have seen anchovy based fish sauce (although it was a while ago). Other than that you can get pretty far with fresh ingredients - lime, herbs etc...
I'm in Israel but I assume you can get these products in the US..

willow

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:01 am

Ruchel wrote:

My kids are very much FFB and still were bh exposed to a large palette of food. But we are lucky as we have litterally hundreds of eateries in driving distance...
We get compliments on how they eat everything- until school starts and then they learn it's all about bamba bissli coca candy.

If you like Sefardi NOT HOT cuisine, try Judeo Spanish.

We are the same. My dd is exposed to everything. We tell her at least one bite. She often loves it because of her exposure. My mother brought us up the same with a lot of different cuisines from different ethnicities. I believe that is why I love all kinds of exotic, spicy and different food.
My dh doesn't come from such a background but it can be taught. He loves how I cook and is always asking me questions on food.

33055

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:07 am

OP I totally agree with you. Additionally, I like fresh colorful food. DH likes traditional Shabbos food.

The trick is to introduce it in moderation and change up.

My kids' friends go wild over Yuca. They grab it all for themselves. Interestingly enough I am starting to see it in the frum supermarkets. Everyone so far loves this.

I will vary the chicken soups on Shabbos. I will make a Tex Mex, Chinese wonton, broccoli, ginger carrot, hearty chicken stew. These are all made from a basic chicken stock. DH was resistant at first and I always left him the plain chicken stock with the choice and inevitably he chooses the better soup. Now I offer guests a taste before I serve. No one takes the plain and I end up using it as stock.

I will make a Peruvian roast chicken on Friday. My guests are complimentary and no one misses the ketchup/duck sauce/soy sauce/ onion soup mix combo.

Another favorite that pleases both types of palates is a half rice and half orzo dish made worth turmeric and chicken soup. You can substitute pareve consume. Take rice and rinse. Take an equal amount of pasta and fry up together in oil and garlic. Add turmeric When the pasta is browning add twice the amount of chicken soup add pasta and rice. Bring to a boil. Simmer. This dish is a true blend of the yellow rice and the FFB farfelle.

My best advice is to make meals with elements of both. I do the same with my salads. I will prepare a small amount of traditional salads but the nontraditional ones get eaten first.

My children will eat falafel with ketchup and American cheese that is called pizza at their friends houses. At home they will only have Italian pizza.

33055

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:22 am

ally wrote:

You can get these ingredients in supermarkets. What specifically are you looking for? I use sriracha. It is becoming more common. I just saw it in a resturant as a condiment for the table instead of ketchup which is an abomination on Sushi.

amother

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:48 am

I don't see why it's necessary to stick to just one type of cuisine, even if it's the one you grew up with . Thank G-d we live in a time and place in which we can get products of many ethnicities with reliable kosher supervision, and we can create kosher meals of any style we like. Jews in the Diaspora have always been culturally influenced by their neighbors and adapted their cuisine to whatever was available wherever they lived, which is why the culinary traditions of Jews of Yemenite descent differ from those of Italian extraction or Hungarian birth.

Let your table be a United Nations of flavors and styles. Tex-Mex is great, but like anything else it can be boring after a while if served exclusively. Why not leaven your cuisine with the occasional night of Yemenite, Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, and yes, even American cookery? The occasional hamburger on a bun with a side of fries and coleslaw isn't going to kill anyone. For that matter, there's nothing wrong with mixing culinary styles in one meal. Call it "fusion" cuisine, which may be short for "confusion" but what delicious confusion it is! My own Shabbes table last week featured gefilte fish (Eastern European); chicken soup (Is there any non-vegan cuisine from any country that doesn't use chicken soup in some form? I think not) but I added a root vegetable sold in Hispanic bodegas; chicken cooked in soy sauce with star anise (Chinese); baba ganoosh (Middle eastern); Israeli salad; pico de gallo (Mexican); lokshen kugel (Lithuanian style); potato salad (a mix of styles, evolved over time from an Eastern European recipe); and kokosh cake for dessert (Eastern European). FTR I'm an umpteenth-generation FFB of Eastern European background but I have no "brand loyalties" and don't feel that it isn't Shabbes without chopped liver and gefilte fish.

maybe it's time to educate your palate to also appreciate the more subtle flavors of Eastern European cookery. Every single dish doesn't have to be incendiary, you know. Start slowly, with one traditional dish per meal. Customize it so that it's "european" enough for your dc but still tastes like something to you. You can cut back on the sugar. I for one have never made a dish with duck sauce in my life, and I routinely cut the sugar in recipes by at least 1/3 if no 1/2. For that matter, I think traditional Eastern European cuisine used much less sugar than is used in popular recipes today. The excess sugar is an adaptation to American tastes. Sugar was way to expensive in the old country to be used so profligately.

No need to do a complete 180 for your children's sake, but what does it cost you to expand your culinary horizons a bit if it makes the dc happy?

octopus

Sun, Jul 13 2014, 11:55 am

amother wrote:

Quote:

Not sure how "FFB" is a type of food. As long as it's kosher, it's "frum." There are Mexican frum Jews, you know.

True. I meant American New Yorky FFB. Heavy on sugar and animal products, light on flavor. Smile

It's actually hungarian cooking. And since most Nyers have hungarian roots= very sweet cooking. Everything is sweet including meats, chickens, and fish. I don't cook sweet (but I don't have hunky blood Wink

). salt and pepper cooking over here. No sweet kugels. You can make delicious meatballs without it being sweet. do your kids specifically want sweet or do they just want specific types of dishes?