If you have kids, then you know that they are a struggle. One of those struggles is frequently getting them to eat...anything. Babies are especially difficult to deal with because they lack teeth, and thus options for food are fairly limited. However, Cameron Diaz has apparently never fed her 11-month-old daughter Raddix any sort of pureed food, the normal strategy for little ones. Instead, the child already has a fairly sophisticated palate, as the retired(?) actress tends to feed her child the same sorts of things that adults would eat.
Cameron Diaz revealed the state of her baby's menu on a recent virtual appearance on The Rachel Ray Show (via Yahoo). According to Diaz, young Raddix has been eating fairly complex foods since she was born, and overall the kid really seems to like it all. According to the actress...
She's had garlic from day one. She eats bone marrow and she eats liver. I put herbs in everything — thyme and dill, sage, everything. She just loves all of it.
Certainly, liver and bone marrow are not exactly popular flavors of baby food one can purchase at the grocery store. There probably aren't many of this kid's age who have ever eaten such things, making Raddix unique, and not only because she has an odd name.
While my own child has never eaten liver or bone marrow, that's only because those aren't the sorts of things that tend to be eaten in my house at all. Of course, maybe if I'd been eating bone marrow and liver at a year old, I would be eating more of it now. And really, these things are high in a lot of vitamins and the protein that growing kids need, so while Diaz's choices certainly sound a little wild, they also make a lot of sense.
Beyond that, I fully endorse this strategy of feeding kids. My own daughter never saw a jar of "baby food" in her life. She basically ate whatever was at the dinner table and few exceptions were made. For the most part, it worked remarkably well. If the kid doesn't know any better, they're likely to eat whatever is available. Though I'm going to warn Cameron Diaz that, at least in my experience, kids who will eat basically anything at 11-months-old can still get a little more picky as they grow up.
Rachel Ray also fully supports Cameron Diaz's food choices for her daughter. The chef says that parents too often "dumb down" the palate of their children, and there's no need to do that. Certainly, getting your child exposed to different flavors early on is going to likely make them more adaptable later on. And if there's anything watching Masterchef has taught me, proper seasoning is important and it seems Cameron Diaz is teaching her daughter that early. It helps that Diaz herself enjoys cooking...
The first four months I cooked every single meal. For the most part I am cooking all our meals ... I love to cook, it's my love language. I love to cook for my husband, I love to cook for my child now; being able to make the food for her has been incredible.
Don't expect this kid to get some sort of turkey mush for dinner tonight. She'll be getting the real deal. Though hopefully Diaz will still wait a few years before introducing her to the family wine.
