Felty friends: Mandy Milks, Line illustrations: Anthony Swaneveld, Photo: Roberto Caruso, felt material courtesy of thefeltstore.com
Food is an integral part of my life?I make my living as a food writer?but even when I?m not working, I?m inevitably thinking about the next thing I want to cook or eat. Growing up in Calgary in the ?80s and ?90s, my diet consisted mainly of meat and potatoes. So when my daughter, Ruby, was born 11 years ago, I envied the fact that as a child of foodie parents, my baby would be able to discover the joys of fancy mustards and jerk chicken much earlier than I did. I was also convinced that our open-mindedness would mean she would eat everything with gusto.
In fact, this conviction was comically delusional. Ruby?s relationship with food was contentious from day one: Breastfeeding was a struggle for both of us, but when I tried a bottle, she refused it. I was sure things would get easier when she was old enough for solids, and while she did reluctantly accept bland baby cereal and pure?ed sweet potatoes, most other vegetables were flung back in my face. I followed the experts? advice to keep trying, hoping she?d learn to love green veggies, but eventually I realized I was wasting both my time and my fresh produce.
Up until early elementary school, steamed carrots and green beans were the only acceptable veggies, though she did become a fairly voracious meat eater and developed a solid dedication to carbs?as long as everything was served in the ...