On the theory that it’s probably unwise to advertise that your house is sitting dark and empty, I didn’t mention during the last two weeks that I was actually blogging from the road, specifically a crazy-long car odyssey through the state of Florida with my family.
Our vacation started out with a modest goal: I wanted to see my 95-year-old grandmother, who lives near Miami, and give my children a memory of their great-grandmother. But then we thought, why not start in Orlando and let the kids go to the theme parks, something they’ve never experienced before? And once we were in Miami, why not head down to the Keys? The itinerary kept growing until somehow it wound up including Mobile, Tallahassee, Orlando, Boca Raton, Aventura, Miami, countless Keys, the Everglades, Naples, Tampa, Pensacola, Apalachicola and New Orleans.
And yeah, before you even ask, I am bone tired and more than a little glad to be back home.
One of the challenges of the trip was feeding our kids on the road, including the 50+ hours (!) spent together in the car. I stocked up on everything from dried fruit to roasted seaweed, but though I did my best to uphold nutritional standards, it was a losing battle all around. We ate more fried food in the last two weeks than I normally eat in a year. Vegetable consumption was not, shall we say, at its highest. Shirley Temples, chock full of artificial red dye and the dreaded maraschino cherry, were enjoyed on many an evening.
But even if normal healthful eating slipped a bit, it was such a pleasure to share with my kids the fun of exploring regional foods. In Mobile, we took our barbecue sandwiches “‘Bama style” and our iced tea sweet. In Miami, it was all about Cuban and Brazilian (do plantains count as a vegetable?). In the Keys we ate fresh seafood and, of course, incredible Key lime pie. At an amazing fruit stand near the Everglades we ate mamey sapote, sapodilla, dragon fruit and fresh lychees.
In Tampa we headed to Ybor City, a part of town with Spanish, Italian and Cuban roots dating to 1880, and ate Spanish food at the state’s oldest restaurant. In New Orleans, we breakfasted on beignets. And to the extent Universal Studios’ rendition of Hogsmeade counts as a “region,” we also didn’t waste any time before drinking a long-anticipated Butter Beer.
Getting to know a place includes enjoying the food it offers. So that’s yet one more reason why I detest “children’s menus,” which offer pretty much the same salty, fatty array no matter what restaurant — or what part of the country — you happen to be in. But of course, when you’re eating out at almost every meal for two weeks, there’s no question that selecting from the children’s menu is the more economical choice. I found, though, that if you order creatively — splitting entrees between adults and kids, or ordering kids’ entrees
from the appetizer list — you don’t have to give in to the lure of the cheap pizza slice or chicken nugget. Because standard “kid fare” not only deprives children nutritionally, but culturally as well.
Have you had any kid-and-road-food experiences this summer, good or bad? Do you find it hard to feed your kids while travelling? Do you think I’m being too food-snobby about the children’s menu (which we certainly took advantage of now and then when our kids were younger)?
Share your thoughts in a comment below.
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Lisa Suriano says
“Because standard “kid fare” not only deprives children nutritionally, but culturally as well.” I love and wholeheartedly agree with this statement! I blogged about this topic awhile ago too http://tinyurl.com/3tbylo8
Kid’s Menus are such a wasted opportunity to provide young bodies with nutritious fare. I know from experience that food can be both kid-friendly and healthful. I would love to see one of the larger sit-down restaurant chains to lead the way and develop a more thoughtful kid’s menu.
Good luck out there and safe travels!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Just read your post, too! There is one chain in my area – Jason’s Deli – that still offers junk but also more healthful items on the kids’ menu like a turkey sandwich or a baked potato (http://www.jasonsdeli.com/nutrition/jasons-kids-menu) Not reflected in that link is the fact that you can get fruit as a side. Not perfect but improving.
NotCinderell says
Not a road food story, but we just had a guest come to stay with us a week ago and consequently were taking her out to eat more than normal. What shocked my husband was at a restaurant near the Rhode Island coast, the children’s menu didn’t even offer an option of fresh seafood. The only children’s choices were hamburger, mac & cheese, hot dog and chicken nuggets.
My husband and I and the kids ordered two entrees and split them among the four of us (restaurant entrees are huge and our kids are small…we still ended up with leftovers). We got scrod newburg and fish & chips. The kids ate both types of fish, picked the tomatoes and olives off our salads, and still got their french fry fix. Can we say happy medium?
Bettina Elias Siegel says
NotCinderell — we kept noticing that, too — the weird kids’ menu that in NO way reflected the rest of the food offered in the restaurant. It’s such a strange message to send to kids. And yes, that sounds like a perfect happy medium – that’s just the sort of mixing up and sharing we did for the past two weeks.
NotCinderell says
Even weirder, this was a pretty fancy restaurant (as fancy as a beachfront restaurant can be, anyway, where people wander in wearing sarongs, shorts and flip flops right off the beach. As in they had daily specials, brought you a bread basket with olive oil and hummus in an art glass tray to much on while you read the menu, and dinners came with soup or salad.
I was always under the impression that one should think of hot dogs, hamburgers, and the like as very casual fare, maybe something that a seafood-hater might order from the walk-up window at the clam shack across the street from the sit-down restaurant we went to. Offering nothing even remotely “nice” in the way of food-even spaghetti and tomato sauce would be enough–teaches kids that fast food is something to be eaten all the time in all settings.
Amanda says
Does this mean that it’s bad that I’m sometimes tempted to order for myself off the children’s menu? 😉
Actually, I haven’t really paid attention to children’s menus yet b/c my daughter is still a baby, but I think you bring up very valid points and I will keep them in mind for when she reaches that age. And, now that I think of it, I recall eating frog legs, shark, escargot, etc. from my parent’s plates when I was younger. Although they were also big “clean your plate” believers, which I oppose. A good lesson of picking and choosing what you were brought up with to instill in your own children.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Amanda – one thing I do believe is that kids will eat like their parents if they’re allowed to. While mine certainly still have their issues with some foods, overall they’re super adventurous and I do think that’s because we just kept selfishly dragging them from birth to the ethnic restaurants we like. LOL!
Renee says
A good read in light of the fact that we’re leaving soon to drive from Illinois to California (and back). My daughter is 10 and has just now started to move away from kid menus –she’s definitely not an adventurous eater. However, she would gladly eat fresh veggies and fruit over the kids menu stuff –it’s just so hard to find good fresh veggies and fruit at reasonably-priced restaurants. She’s never liked french fries, and when she was younger she’d get applesauce instead. She’s gotten tired of applesauce, but every time we order fruit as a side, it’s pretty awful fruit. I don’t know that we’re going to encounter a lot of ethnic food (until we get to California), but I know we’ll be encouraging her to order from the regular menu and share entree’s with us, to try to get some more nutritious food in her over the new couple of weeks.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Renee – You’ve nailed something I’ve long wanted to talk about — why are the “fruit sides” for kids at restaurants always so awful? Unripe honeydew, weird tasting apples, mushy watermelon? I’ll make my kids get fruit instead of fries, urge them to try it and then I have to agree with them that the fruit is not worth eating. At any rate, I hope your trip goes well — let us know!
Erin in AK says
We recently took a family vacation in Germany, driving around the country for two weeks in a camper van. Because we had our own “kitchen” we ate breakfast & lunch in the van…but went with a more European model of fresh rolls (you could order them the night before at the camp office!), fresh cheeses and meats. However, many meals were at restaurants. I was so pleased to see that most menus offered some smaller version of the adult foods available. Our five year old tried all sorts of new foods and we had a wonderful time. Why restaurants in the US can’t offer a smallerized version of the adult foods is beyond me.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Erin – I KNOW! In the few restaurants that told us they could do a half order of anything on the menu, we were so grateful. I’m sure a professional chef could tell us why maybe this isn’t always economical or practical for the restaurant to do that, but all I know is we were so happy when the option was offered.
Erin in AK says
Oh, I finally found this article that I wanted to share with you. I’m not defending the choice to feed kids chicken nuggets and fries, but neither am I judging. When our daughter was born I made all of the baby food she ate, I had the holier than thou attitude of a mom who knows what is healthy and what is not. But despite all that, in her five years of life, our daughter has had her fair share of “kids menu” dinners.
http://nonabrooklyn.com/chicken-nuggets-and-french-fries-confessions-of-a-mother-and-a-chef/
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Erin: I love that chef’s story and actually posted it on TLT’s Facebook page a while back, where it generated a lot of laughs and discussion. And let me be clear – I’m not judging anyone. I’m lucky that my kids don’t want the kids menu items (usually) but as the parent of a kid who stubbornly rejects almost every vegetable under the sun, I’ve been humbled in other ways. It’s funny (and sobering) to compare our views of feeding kids when they’re infants (this child will drink juice over my dead body!) versus the messy reality as they get older. 🙂 Thanks for sharing the link and for commenting on TLT!
Tammy says
We too recently took a road trip to FL and did the Orlando-Tampa route to visit family and friends. I aslo found the Butterbeer a little on the sweet side but have been tasked by my family to try to recreate it (I’ve almost got it!)! Anyways, I made a point to tell my son before we left that just b/c we were on vacation it didn’t mean it’s a vacation from eating healthy and making good decisions about food. Aside from a few not so great choices we were able to pretty much eat like we usually do. I packed lots of healthy chips, snacks and coconut water for the ride and enough for us to have while we were there. We avoided the kids menu most of the time and also just spilt entrees with each other. I really just wanted to show my son that eating healthy is a part of every day life.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Tammy: You have to tell me your butter beer recipe! 🙂
Tammy says
Ingredients: Vanilla Cream Soda, Butterscotch sundae suryp, marshmellow fluff, heavy whippiing cream and vanilla extract.
To make one Frozen Butterbeer I used one can/bottle Vanilla Creme soda from Whole Foods (any one would work but I was trying to make it a little better by not using a soda with HFCS). Combine cream soda, 1 teaspoon of Butterscotch syrup, a dash of Vanilla and a little ice in a blender. Blend until slushy (I actually have a snow cone maker and have tried using the ice from that instead of putting everything in the blender and that worked good too). Pour into a cup. Then basically make a runnier version of whipped cream to put on top. Whipped cream part of the recipie makes enough for 3 or 4 butter beers. I used about a 1/2 of a half pint of heavy whipping cream, but just start with whatever you usually use to make homemade whipped crea. Combine the heavy cream, about a tablespoon marshmellow fluff and about a tablespoon butterscotch syrup in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix together until almost whipped so the cream mixture is slightly runny, not as firm as whipped cream. Top the butterbeer with the foamy topping and let it sit a few seconds so the carbonation gets into the foaming topping!
It’s not exact and I’m still playing with the ingredients but it’s pretty close and will satisfy my husband and son’s Butterbeer cravings and is cheaper than another trip back to Orlando! Lol! Enjoy! Note: skip the ice and blender for the non-frozen butterbeer!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Tammy – thank you for sharing this! It sounds like it would be very close to (and maybe better than) the Universal version. Somehow in my imagination, butter beer has a little more complexity, like some warm spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). Maybe one day I’ll experiment. And I will say that the Pumpkin Juice at the theme park was great!