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What Babies in Italy Eat
July 25, 2008
No, no, this isn’t becoming a “mommy blog.” God forbid.
Just a couple things I found interesting.
Yesterday Vincenzo had a pediatrician visit and the doctor explained to me the whole plan for introducing him to solid foods. Today was his first non-milk “meal.” It consisted of:
-vegetable broth prepared with one carrot and one zucchini
-a few spoonfuls of powdered rice cereal
AND
- one teaspoon of olive oil
Do you not love it? My baby’s first meal had olive oil in it. Something tells me that’s not on the menu for US babies, but I could be wrong… Racheal Ray would totally approve, right? EVOO, people!! Yum-o! (Insert eye roll here). Check out her website and you’ll even find she’s dispensing parenting tips, real gems like this one: Spend one on one time with your kid–Even if you’ve got three or four of them, making some one on one time for each child will give you bonding time that you can’t get as a group.
WOW. It’s like… WOW.
But, this is what I find the funniest though. When my mom was here for Vince’s baptism about a month ago, we went to the supermarket and were looking at stuff in the baby aisle. She picks up a package of baby food and goes, “Well, that’s weird. Why in the world would they put a horse on the package?”
Go ahead, answer me that. Why would they put a horse on the package?
I personally have never gone in for the whole “horse meat” thing here in Italy, so I highly doubt little V is going to be partaking in it. I’m sure it tastes just like chicken though.
Topics: Do As the Romans Do, Only in Italy |
July 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
There’s horse meat in the baby food? I don’t see that selling in the States. I think PETA would have a cow.
Rachel Ray doesn’t have kids and now she is giving out child rearing advice? Yet a minute, silly me. She can’t cook either but she makes millions a year sharing her cooking advice.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Being from Kentucky, home of Churchill Downs, the Ky Derby and may horse farms, eating horse meat is just unthinkable. I do see it in the grocery store, but since I don’t have a baby I’ve never noticed it in the baby food aisle too!
I do love the idea of adding a bit of olive oil to the baby food, though….
July 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
i think it’s funny that they have an adorable horsie pic on the package. it’s not like they put bunnies or cows on other food.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I unfortunately was persuaded to try “cavallo” while studying in Italy…..and it does NOT taste like chicken.
you’re not missing out on anything!
July 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
That is different. Here they start off on rice cereal usually. Then, at 6 mos, they start getting introduced to some veggies and fruit baby foods.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Ah, yes, carne equina. What memories. Once a year my mother would try to get me to eat it as it is actually much more nutritious and has a much lower fat content and more flavor (beefy - not chickeny) than beef. Our neighbors used it as beef (Trastevere was poor back then - all original residents. We were the first stranieri in zona). And just as regularly I would refuse to eat it. We did, however feed it to our dog who was fed fresh food (there might not even have been decent kibble choices in Italy then when dogs were only for hunting or guarding and everyone I knew with a dog just fed it their own human leftovers - poor dogs!) and for his protein we would go around the corner to the macelleria equina (right off of P. Trilussa on V. Benedetta about halfway to dove spunta V. del Bologna - I think the marble sign is still over the door last year, although I think the venue has been turned into….what else? Another crappy tourist restaurant., of course!
I still remember the smell of the equine tripe…..UGH!!!!!!….which everyone in the neighborhood considered quite a treat and they laughed at me for not even being able to look at it!
I find it strange that the baby food label said “Cavallo” instead of “Equina” - which is a little more clinical and less like you are eating Roy Roger’s best friend. Boh!
July 26th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Get that kid over here, stat. We’ve got plenty of olive oil so he can keep his heritage, but it is equally important he recognize Trigger isn’t dinner.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Wow, I have never heard if horse food for babies! Eeewww. Interestingly here in Hawaii, poi is often the first food fed to babies. I would take poi or olive oil over horse food any day.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Aren’t we silly about what we think is edible and what is not? I know it to my toes and still do not eat horse or eels. I know an eel is not a snake… it looks too snakey to eat!
July 30th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
ciao a tutti! i grow up on horse meat i think it s gorgeous! dont see why we feel it s ok to kill a chicken but not a horse or a hare or a donkey. horsemeat is very rich in iron and a speciality where i live (verona). try it if ur in the area!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:06 am
My third child is now 7 weeks old. He has colic. My second child had colic too, he is now 14 yrs old. I am currently using 0.5ml of extra virgin olive oil as an additive to my baby’s feeding schedule. I give him that amount before he takes a bottle. He has become a quiet normal baby again. I wish I had known about it when my second child had colic. No more constipation, upset stomach or spitting up. And most importantly, no more screaming and crying in pain after taking a bottle!!!!
May 26th, 2009 at 3:44 am
I was wondering what babies in Italy eat because my 8m old LOVES roasted garlic and could eat it by the handful like cherios! It seems rather wrong to feed a kid garlic like that but mine is definitely an italian baby- I wonder when italian babies start eating that?