The Longest Shortest Time

EPISODE #34: The Parents’ Guide to Eating Over the Sink

All parents worry about whether or not their kids are getting enough nutrients and if they’re learning good table manners. (We’ve got a Google+ Hangout on that topic coming up soon!) But the truth is, once you have kids, your eating habits tend to go down the drain, too. We eat whatever’s lying around—including manhandled and mouthed leftovers from our children’s plates. We scarf down animal crackers while hiding in the pantry. Even if we’re eating what we actually want to be eating, we gobble it down over the sink. But is there a way to still get enjoyment from meals when you have young kids?

I don’t know anyone who thinks more about eating technique than Dan Pashman of the Sporkful podcast. Here he is analyzing potato chips.

Dan and I recently got together to confess the embarrassing ways we’ve been eating as parents, and he gave me some tips on how to make those bites over the sink as delicious as possible. But as you might be able to tell from my face in the picture below, our ideas about what constitutes delicious don’t always match.

HINT ON WHAT GROSSED ME OUT:

(Above) That’s a plate of water, for dipping graham crackers—which, yes, he fed to me. And, according to Dan, is yummier than a dry graham cracker.

(Left) That’s one of Dan’s “food-ball” concoctions, which he gathered from his one-year-old’s high chair tray. This one is a blueberry, pear & peanut butter puffs combo. Another of his favorites: meatloaf encrusted with peas.

More Dan Pashman

Despite Dan’s iffy parental eating habits, the eating tips he offers on the Sporkful actually ARE delicious. I found this episode on Belgian waffles so mouth-watering that I Tweeted at him that I wanted a waffle in my mouth that instant—and to my great surprise, he overnighted one to my door. And this video on how to eat wings is one of my favorite things I’ve watched on the internet.

Dan has a book coming out in the fall called Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.

How do YOU eat with your kids?
Do you eat with them? Alone? In bed? Leave your parental eating confessions in the comments!

Potato chip photo: Lilia Cretcher