Food and Parenting

As a parent my children's food choices have been very much a part of my parenting. From those long nights when breast feeding them sometimes seemed too hard to be 'natural', to their first foods until now when we sit down to dinner together as a family, I am trying to instill in them the joy of eating that was passed down to me.
As the years have gone by, I have become increasingly persuaded that organic and non-processed foods are the way forward. We have our weekly box of seasonal produce delivered to the door and despite the fact that we've been doing this for years now, Thursday afternoon is always like Christmas. "Mum, look we've got some bok choi this week!", "Look mum, there are these things with roots!" The toughest task is to stop B2 from sinking his teeth into all that he pulls from the box.
The local Farmer's Markets are also a great source of inspiration to both me and my children - they love to wander in the outdoors, chatting with the farmers and sampling their wares with their dad. The food lives and breathes in that environment, well away from the sterility of the supermarket.
So it is no surprise that when I came upon the Vegan Lunchbox blog nearly a year ago that I jumped for joy. Here was a mum, sharing her son's lunches with the world. She is Vegan and I am not, but the paths collide and the values to a great extent are shared. I followed her blog and its increasing fame with interest - with all the focus on the nutritional negatives in the wider community, it was wonderful to see her blog and its followers grow.