In my childhood I didn't like warm milk. But now I liked warm milk too much.

We evolve and once our consciousness or intellect takes over after we grow, we consciously change our food habits to make us healthier and fit.

For children to develop healthy habits, parents have to pass it on. Children imitate us under our skin and would pick up healthy habits easily if they see it being followed in the family.

Children love to share their food with friends in school. They like preparations of other members. So parents can share the pool of healthy recipes to keep up with the variety and interests of children. WhatsApp groups of mothers make it easier for all to share healthy recipes. This point comes from my experience as a mother. I have learnt so many recipes from the moms on the group as my daughter tries the food in school and comes and asks me to make the same at home.

I have seen some people being extremely critical of others food habits and when it is done in font of children they too become judgmental and develop a closed mind towards food . They become judgmental about other food items that is not prepared at home without having any experience , not having tried it even once. I have something to share here.. once we were invited to have dinner with a Norwegian family and most of the food prepared by the hostess was new to us. She had of course taken care not to include both pork and beef because of religious sentiments . The Indians at the dinner party were making faces because there was no rice or roti and we're shocked about some of the dishes. There was raw fish pickle which I tried for the first time and found it delicious. But of course most of the others refused to try and the hostess was feeling sad ..She later told me that she wanted others to taste their food and had taken.a lot of trouble to prepare it herself..

usha manohar wrote:

I have seen some people being extremely critical of others food habits and when it is done in font of children they too become judgmental and develop a closed mind towards food . They become judgmental about other food items that is not prepared at home without having any experience , not having tried it even once. I have something to share here.. once we were invited to have dinner with a Norwegian family and most of the food prepared by the hostess was new to us. She had of course taken care not to include both pork and beef because of religious sentiments . The Indians at the dinner party were making faces because there was no rice or roti and we're shocked about some of the dishes. There was raw fish pickle which I tried for the first time and found it delicious. But of course most of the others refused to try and the hostess was feeling sad ..She later told me that she wanted others to taste their food and had taken.a lot of trouble to prepare it herself..

I too have come across many people who don't want to try anything new or make faces looking at them. When I visited a village in Rajasthan where food crops cannot be grown properly due to infertile land, one of the lady gave me some plant which they eat often as vegetables. She told me how they usually cook it. That evening two of my colleagues joined me for dinner and one of them said that I was taking a great risk eating plants which are totally new to us. She refused to even try as she doesn't have any idea about that plant. I replied that as the villagers have been traditionally eating those plants and nothing happened to them, I don't mind trying it. And when I tried it, it turned out all right.

@Usha, that is something which I too have experienced with a colleague with whom I was in England for a training course. Our project coordinator took both of us and our training team out for dinner at an Italian place. Since only two of were Indians, she took great care of us and our needs and was really trying to please us and took a lot of efforts to order something that we would really like. But since it was England, the food had no salt or spices but still tasted really great. I wanted to try the authentic experience so I really enjoyed the food and wine. But m colleague who liked spicy food, kept making faces and commenting how there was absolutely no salt or spice in anything. After sometime, the coordinator could not bear her faces any more and told her quite brusquely that if she just wanted salt in her meal, she could simply have asked politely for some. It was a very embarrassing moment for me.

Also, I think, Indians as a whole are quite avert to trying new cuisines otherwise we wouldn't see ads from travel agencies that said they could have authentic Indian meals in tourist places abroad.

anil wrote:

In my childhood I didn't like warm milk. But now I liked warm milk too much.

I too don't like Warm milk till now

anil wrote:

In my childhood I didn't like warm milk. But now I liked warm milk too much.

The one thing I would insist on when my children were young was drinking at least two or three glasses of milk. They all loved milk or milk shake and continue to drink milk regularly even now..

Indians are not only unwilling to try non-Indian dishes but they usually shy away from trying dishes of the different regions within India. It's a common idea that Bengali dishes, veg and non-veg items, are sweet in taste. This is absolutely rubbish. We do add sugar but that is to balance the taste. Some may put sugar a little more than required but it's not a general practice. Thus, it's always good to try especially the veg items while there can be reservation in having all types of non-veg items.

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Indians are not only unwilling to try non-Indian dishes but they usually shy away from trying dishes of the different regions within India. It's a common idea that Bengali dishes, veg and non-veg items, are sweet in taste. This is absolutely rubbish. We do add sugar but that is to balance the taste. Some may put sugar a little more than required but it's not a general practice. Thus, it's always good to try especially the veg items while there can be reservation in having all types of non-veg items.

I too feel that we should try out the food from different regions. It help us to appreciate food better. And as far as Bengali are concerned, I have noticed that they are very good in cooking. I have learned many new dishes from my Bengali friends. One of my former room mates taught me to make curry even out of papad. Through her, I also became a fan of the pointed gourd (potol)

While I was working in Durgapur Steel plant in WB, I  used to eat in the houses of a Bengali friend, I had developed in immense liking on their Fish preparations like "Macher Jol".