For better or worse, what we eat as children defines a lot of our diet as adults. It always seems like those who weren't allowed sugar cereals have a Diet Coke habit that runs to a 12-pack-a-day.
But what about the children of foodies -- whom "Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert has labeled as koodies:
koodie: -noun Slang. A kid keenly interested in food, especially eating, cooking, or watching reruns of Julia Child. A kid who has an ardent or refined interest in food; a mini-gourmet; usually trained by one or both parents to have an unusual, and sometimes fanatic, desire to eat unusual foods. Evolution from the now-defunct word foodie
It makes me wonder how much of what we eat is hardwired and how much is determined by what we had at the dinner table as kids. Are we doomed to repeat the food mistakes of our pretentious parents? Are foodies' kids secretly sneaking Cocoa Puffs in the alley?
Regardless of a parent's relationship with food, the joy of eating something forbidden or unhealthy will likely never disappear. It's half of what's exciting about food. It reminds me of what a friend's grandfather would say to his cat every morning while feeding it an egg yolk: "You know that's going to kill you, right?"
So, koodies and kiddies alike will never stop being interested in the food that they're not supposed to have, and can always look forward to the days when they're adults -- and can start determining what is forbidden for the next generation.
[Image via Flickr: timparkinson]
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