Food analogy

(bread, eggs, goat cheese, honey, carrot cake, dill, potatoes, carrots, mixed salad greens and plums from the farmer's market this morning)

Once my Mere asked me about how I am raising and educating Z.

I came up with what I thought at the time was a good analogy. I was trying to give Z a "gourmet" life. I wanted her to read the best books, listen to the more wonderful music, partake of the best from all over the world.

The food thing is not just an analogy though. I really do pay a lot of attention to what Z eats. We have gone out of our way to raise an adventurous eater who will try anything and not turn her nose up on unfamiliar foods. She also likes to know what food she is eating, where is has come from, and how healthy it is for her. She cares about things like Trans Fats and eating locally. She also likes to help her Pere cook elaborate authentic meals.

For my part I try to feed her healthy, organic, wholesome food. We buy our food from a variety of places, from farmer's markets to ethnic grocery markets to our neighborhood Whole Foods and Trader Joes. We will travel far and pay a lot to have a unique eating experience.

We purposefully eat from various cultures and have included Z in our eating habits so she has eaten traditional meals of Southern France, Hawaii, Cuba, Morroco, Israel, Italy, Japan, China, Vietnam, and many others.

We have even worked at ranches and farms so Z can see where her food really comes from. She is a very informed eater.

I also let her have some yummy junk food sometimes, so long as it is not enough to affect her health or her tastes for the finer things.

Looking at all this I think what we do with Z for food is analogous to how we try to teach her and raise her.

I want her to have the best. She is familar with and enjoys great books, classical music, famous works of art from all over the world. She is excited to try new things and realizes that she deserves to feed her brain "the good stuff". And as she has been raised on this diet of the best having a little twaddle doesn't harm her.

She recognizes that things that come too easy, like Fast Food, often aren't very good for you. And that when people really care about the product that they are making it shows in the end. She also understands that we have a lot to learn so that we can live by our values.