[chimaera]

Our little one will be weaning this year and I want to grow things that he will like (I want to know the provenance of his food as much as possible).
What do people recommend growing on the plot that their babies have really liked?
Charlie

[min200]

put quite simply....whatever you like!!

Just plant the things you love and blend them up for baby to eat 

[sazhig]

We did baby-led weaning with my son, no puréeing or special diets required. He fed himself what we ate. His first meal was steamed carrot sticks  .

We shall be doing the same with #2 (due May this year) and I don't plan on growing anything special for him/her...shall just enjoy letting them explore all the different tastes and textures of the veg we grow.

[binner]

as above, our lilly is 1 next month and she's had  most stuff we grew

[Mark-S]

Our little one will be weaning this year and I want to grow things that he will like (I want to know the provenance of his food as much as possible).
What do people recommend growing on the plot that their babies have really liked?
Charlie

 we took on our allotment in February and Jocon was born in March......so far he has eaten most things we grew - blended of course.  He loved the pumpkin soup.
I think the only thing he didnt have was radish.  Looks like he wont be having PSB either.

the blender is the key...

[Nikkithefoot]

Mine have always eaten whatever they have been given, small amounts to try and several repeats before deciding they don't like it!! My youngest doesn't like sprouts for example, but will occasionally try another one to see if he still doesn't like them!! My eldest doesn't eat swede.

I would suggest just letting your little one try everything you eat, and take it from there.

[strangerachael]

But they usually like the sweetish stuff like parsnips, carrots, squash etc.

[mashauk]

I'm not sure wth babies,hopefully he will eat whatever you give him, but I know toddlers like to feed themselves, my friends little girl loves to pick and eat peas, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, broccoli and adores sweetcorn which goes more on the floor than in her mouth but she tries

[Dreamer@45]

We did baby-led weaning with my son, no puréeing or special diets required. He fed himself what we ate.

We've done the same thing with our little one and had great success with it.

[TheSpartacat]

It depends if you will also be feeding them bought baby food. The baby food companies put a LOT of sugar in their products, there's been quite a bit of consternation in the press about it a while back, and the argument that as a result children developed a preference for sweeter foods and this was having an effect on their long term diet habits and obesity levels...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/04/baby-food-nutrition-claims

So if you're feeding them jars of babyfood as well as home made, then you might notice they prefer sweeter veg like carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin etc...

But if you are just feeding them home cooking, they'll probably eat most things and develop broader tastes.

My Mum had a brood of 8 kids and buying ready made baby food was unheard of, so we all grew up eating what the grown ups ate, mashed... or left whole when a bit older.
I believe she omitted salt when cooking.
By age 3 i was quite passionate about sprouts, cabbage and carrots.. raw or cooked, i didnt mind... notice the same with my nieces and nephews, they eat almost anything and would never have tasted the jarred food.

But its a choice every parent has to make, i guess, as they have to do the cooking, and not everyone finds the time.

[Kristen]

The problem is when they get to school .. school dinners put ours (and me!) off quite a number of things.  Huge, rubbery, Broad Beans ... Sprouts cooked-to-death ...

And in my case the full gambit of Tapioca, Frogs spawn, Semolina ...

[JayG]

And in my case the full gambit of Tapioca, Frogs spawn, Semolina ...

You're showing your age Kristen!

I can add "chocolate crunch" to your list which you needed to surround with a wall of semi-solid cold custard in the hope of keeping it somewhere on the same table when you tried to break a piece off with your knife, fork and spoon! 

I also remember the fantastic innovation of "home made" potato crisps (a dollop of congealed lard embedded with thin soggy slices of potato!)

Sorry to take the thread even further off topic; some things are just too memorable not to share! 

[chimaera]

Thanks, that's very encouraging that they will try a lot of things. I ask because a relative's baby loved french beans when she was starting to wean, and would suck and chew on them for ages, leaving a limp bit of bean skin. She also loved squash and peas.
Charlie

[totalnovice]

Parsnip, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, sweetcorn, tomatoes, green beans, runner beans, peas, beetroot (if you are feeling brave and have lots of plastic sheeting to put down before you start to feed!) potatoes apples, plums, leeks, cabbage, swede, errmmm,,,,, do i need to go on?! I would go with anything you like, kids copy parents even at that age so if your baby sees you eating a wide variety of veg they will follow suit! Green beans make a great fingerfood, as do carrots, and lightly steamed brocoli trees or cauliflower clouds!

[galen]

I would go with anything you like, kids copy parents even at that age so if your baby sees you eating a wide variety of veg they will follow suit!

I have to agree there. My daughter (now 5) from a very young age loved her veg as both her Mum and myself eat tonnes of the stuff. She especially liked carrots, green beans, red pepper, cucumber, celery and the rest of the "finger foods". It's quite funny seeing her head straight for the celery now with most of the adults around her saying are you sure that's what you want!  She also loves all the "dark green" veg, especially kale which I used to steam and cut up very finely