Summer Challenge #6: Visit an Ethnic Restaurant
This week the summer challenge is to visit an ethnic restaurant. Join us on our journey to become a little more adventurous when it comes to eating. Trying new foods from different cultures expands palates, introduces different cultures through cuisine, and provides opportunity for language development.
How new and different foods can promote language use:
- Provides opportunity to expand vocabulary
- Provides opportunity to make a choice
- Provides opportunity to place an order
- Provides opportunity to describe what the new food looks like
- Provides opportunity to describe how the new food smells, feels, and tastes
Why it’s important to expose children to new food:
- If you want your child to eat differently you have to feed her differently
- Children establish food preferences and dietary habits during the first six years of life
- Positive exposure to multiple foods help children develop a taste for more foods
- Consistently offering a variety of foods to children helps the majority of children overcome the natural tendency to reject new foods and leads to more healthful eating habits
- Up to 10 to 15 experiences may be necessary for a child to try and then accept a new food
We have been intentional about tasting different cuisine around Columbus for over a year now. Below are some ideas for introducing your kid to ethnic food, by culture. Note that the restaurants I mention are ones that we have tried, but are just a suggestion. It’s all a matter of taste, so explore different places until you find your favorites. And be sure to share with us if you find a good one!
- Somali Food – Hoyo’s Kitchen
- Chinese Food – Sunflower Chinese Restaurant
- Ethiopian Food – Lalibela Restaurant
- Salvadoran Food – Ranchero Kitchen
- Lebanese Food – Mr Hummus Grill
- Filipino Food – Bonifacio
Check-in each week this summer for adventure ideas in your community. My hope is that each and every adventure will be different and exciting. This year I have partnered with businesses in the community to put together an epic summer bucket giveaway at the end of the 10 weeks. The bucket includes ways to Say-n-Play both at home and in Columbus this summer. You will be entered into the drawing for the bucket each time you connect and share your weekly adventure experiences using the hashtag – #saynplaythesummeraway.