The Cordon Bleu Kid

In the Food & Wine section of the Weekend FT Mar 1 08), Michael Steinberger writes an interesting story about the finer dining tastes his six year old son has developed:

On a visit to Boston last summer, just before our son’s birthday, my wife and I gave him the gift he most desired: we allowed James to eat his first raw clam, thus ending three years of simmering frustration for him. True, he was only turning six, but that meant he had spent half his life pining for a taste of uncooked bivalves.

The article describes how James became hungry after watching a nature show on giant squids; and that upon being asked mid-novel if he thought the pig character of Charlotte’s Web would survive, James shrugged and said that if he died then at least everyone could have juicy hot bacon! It’s a jolly story of how Michael’s son James had become fascinated with food that’s normally preferred by more adult tastes - and it’s something we’ve noted among the offspring of certain New Yorkers too.

Financial Times