Mark Hix - Eat Up - Food for Children of All Ages

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Fourth Estate

Copyright © Mark Hix & Suzi Godson 2000

Mark Hix & Suzi Godson assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007146772

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007405169

Version 2016-09-09

For Ellie, Lydia, Scarlet, Ruby and Amber

Cover

Title Page Eat Up Food for children of all ages Mark Hix with Suzi Godson

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Weights, Measures and Servings To begin with… Shopping Cooking Feeding Babies and Toddlers Soups and Stocks Vegetables and Salads Eggs, Pasta and Rice Meat and Fish Puddings Picnics, Snacks and Parties Drinks and Lollies Index Acknowledgements About the Author About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Fourth Estate Copyright © Mark Hix & Suzi Godson 2000 Mark Hix & Suzi Godson assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication. Source ISBN: 9780007146772 Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007405169 Version 2016-09-09

Dedication Dedication Dedication Weights, Measures and Servings To begin with… Shopping Cooking Feeding Babies and Toddlers Soups and Stocks Vegetables and Salads Eggs, Pasta and Rice Meat and Fish Puddings Picnics, Snacks and Parties Drinks and Lollies Index Acknowledgements About the Author About the Publisher For Ellie, Lydia, Scarlet, Ruby and Amber

Weights, Measures and Servings Weights, Measures and Servings

To begin with…

Shopping

Cooking

Feeding Babies and Toddlers

Soups and Stocks

Vegetables and Salads

Eggs, Pasta and Rice

Meat and Fish

Puddings

Picnics, Snacks and Parties

Drinks and Lollies

Index

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

When our twin girls, Ellie and Lydia, were born, like many fathers I didn’t feel I could get very involved in feeding them. Initially, they were breastfed but this was exhausting for my wife, Suzie, so we were both relieved when they started drinking formula milk because it meant we could share the almost constant feeding. A diet consisting entirely of formula seemed an awful way for babies to inaugurate their tastebuds but mine drank pints of the stuff and the fridge was crammed with 8oz bottles for months. I couldn’t wait to get them on to proper food.

When they finally moved on to ‘solids’, I sampled a few jars of baby food out of curiosity. Although they’re supposed to be completely natural I didn’t think they tasted anything like their original ingredients. As a chef, I had ambitions for Ellie’s and Lydia’s little palates even then, and I would experiment with purées of freshly cooked vegetables at the weekends and freeze them for Suzie to use during the week. My schedule was so hectic that getting to feed Ellie and Lydia, or even eating together as a family, was a rare treat, so I concentrated on making their food a bit special. We wanted to get them used to flavour and variety but, even more importantly, by making their food at home we knew exactly what was in it. Commercially processed food can be a valuable standby but it is not nearly as tasty as the fresh, home-cooked alternative.

In a professional kitchen, chefs create dishes by mixing complementary flavours, whether it’s carrot and cardamom, beetroot and horseradish or something as classic as peas and mint. With Ellie and Lydia we used potato and parsnip as a base to introduce vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots, leeks and other root vegetables. As they got older, we added small quantities of spices such as cumin and fresh ginger. We put everything we could in the blender and sometimes the purées were so tasty that Suzie and I would eat a chunkier version as an accompaniment to meat or fish.

It became apparent early on that Ellie and Lydia preferred the taste of banana and sweet vegetables such as parsnip and butternut squash to more savoury flavours such as avocado and potato. What I found interesting about the purée stage was the fact that, because all the food has the same smooth consistency, likes and dislikes are based entirely on taste, not appearance, texture or presentation. It was much easier feeding Ellie and Lydia at this stage. Their senses of smell and taste were pure and they were happy to explore new flavours in a way that they would later become much more reluctant to do. After the first few months texture and presentation become increasingly important.