All four courses

Back to the rules of French toddler food rules – perhaps the most well-known one is that French children are often given four (or at minimum three) courses, I think at each meal – or at least for lunch and dinner (I haven’t figured out breakfast yet but have no plans to mess with our porridge and banana system.)

First up is some kind of veg, steamed or uncooked, often in a French vinaigrette (we went for olive oil, lemon juice and mustard), followed by the meal (seemingly a careful balance of protein, carbs and more veg), cheese and desert .

This concept makes a lot of sense – get the veggies into them first, when they’re actually hungry, rather than letting them gobble up a bowl of pasta as big as their head before they start throwing bits of broccoli at the fridge door. And squeeze the sweet stuff in right at the end when obviously they’re full up on steamed kale.

This is something we’ve been doing with Eadie since she started eating – refusing any form of spoon feeding, first base was always sticks of broccoli or carrot. And now we have to shove any form of food in front of her just to keep her from screaming blue murder before her meal is ready to eat.

So – as with the snacks thing, it’s a bit of a no brainer, and it kind of works (crucially dependent on the veg). Except for the fact that the girls detest any form of vinaigrette so we go au naturel. It’s a bit of a faff, but made easier but keeping a load of pre steamed veg in the fridge you can hand out like snacks at any time (ok we haven’t quite got that far yet).

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been pro the two course thing, giving kids a desert as part of their meal as standard and not as a treat (v Annabel Karmel). But the cheese concept is new.

I’m not entirely sure Alba is going to go with the French cheese thing. Babybel – yes. (Is it French? They certainly sell Babybels as big as my head in Carrefour). Boursin – a big yes. But I don’t think they count.

Last week at the supermarket we were asked by the checkout guy “Are you English?”. Thinking oh God the behaviour of our children has given us away again, he picked up the (English) cheddar with disgust and said “Only zee English eat ziss.” Ah the fromage shame!

But this sums up Alba’s unwavering approach to cheese. Brie has gone down ok-ish a couple of times (if it’s smothered on a chunk of fresh baguette) but generally it’s a resounding yeeeuchh. Even Laughing Cow gets “that’s yuck”-ed off our lunch table so Camembert doesn’t stand a chance.

I’m still unsure about when French babies are introduced to the magic of Brie, but the crèche menu I posted before suggests not until they’re “Grands” – Eadie’s definitely not that so we’ll hold off on the mouldy cheese test for now. But she’s our blank canvas

I’m trying hard(ish) to keep up this three course thing, but it is, as I mentioned, a bit of a faff, and in our case it contradicts another rule of making meals sharp, efficient and enjoyable experiences. I feel veggies are always going to be a challenge with Alba, and throwing in a veg course sometimes brings more hassle and screams of protest than it’s worth (v putting it on a plate with her main dish and she kind of forgets it’s there). But this is a long-term game (with long-term gains), and I must start branching out from carrots and broccoli to make it work (there’s a two week old artichoke at the back of the fridge I had grand ambitions for..)