"Uh-Oh Spaghettios".. In Which We All Realize Certain Childhood Memories are Not What We Thought

Here's the most recent Aiduk Family self-portrait. We were on our way out the door to take the girls to their first ever sushi buffet! It was a really nice family outing. (but no, they didn't really like sushi that much)

I am still very proud of the fact that my girls eat almost everything. I am thankful that I read and followed the advice of this book by Dr. Greene when Lily was just born... the cliff notes version = feed your babies everything you eat (hopefully a wide/healthy variety of flavor threads and veggies) from a very young age. Even if they refuse at first, just have them try a bite regularly and move on. Eventually they will become accustomed to it. A good example of how this has worked for us is that at one time or another both girls refused raw tomatoes and spicy chili. But now both foods are a favorite. 

Please don't hear what I'm not saying: MY KIDS AREN'T PERFECT EATERS. They go through picky stages. They for some strange reason refuse to love avocados as much as I do. And they also don't like mashed potatoes (I KNOW)... But all in all, I'm proud of their adventurous eating and that they do in fact sometimes eat veggies.

But don't think I never grab a box of mac n cheese or that I don't get in PB&J school lunch ruts. (I'm currently in the midst of that one!)

The whole point of all this is to share the story of how Jesse recently became aware that in this [in my opinion very noble] quest to educate my children on as much of a variety of delicious food as possible, I have neglected certain areas of food that he feels essential to their development as well rounded AMERICAN individuals. 

So here's how it went down: 

Jesse: (talking to the girls about something that dropped on the ground) "Uh-oh Spaghettios!"

Lily: (looking confused) 

Jesse: (long pause) "Do you know what Spaghettios are???"

Lily: (slowly shakes head no) 

Jesse: "JESS! Did you know the girls don't know what Spaghettios are??????" 

Me: "Ew, do we have to introduce them to that crap?"

Jesse: "Lily and Sam, you are in for a treat! Next week, we're having Spaghettios AND grilled cheese for dinner!" 

(he looks suspiciously at me) "...and it HAS to be sliced AMERICAN cheese."

Me: (as I reach for the grocery list) "Double ew." 

Nothing says American heritage like "imitation pasteurized process cheese food"... mmmm "food like products"...

So I may or may not have had a hard time finding Spaghettios at the Commissary. Silly me, thought they'd be near the Cambells Soup... but no matter. These two disgusting delicious cans of fake food American culinary genius finally made their way into the shopping cart. 

(If it's possible, I have become EVEN MORE of a real-food-snob since living in Europe. As our family's resident hippie, I am definitely the activist for removing most of what I consider "fake food" from our family's pantry/fridge...but I digress...)

When "the big night" of our "special dinner" was upon us, Lily asked me what I was making and I said FAKE FOOD! :o) But I still told her it was a fun food that Mommy and Daddy remember from when we were kids.

It was fun to make this little bit of childhood nostalgia. J was a bit more excited than I was, but still..

Come to find out, our childhood memories of how delicious Spaghettios are seem to be somewhat... flawed. 

The funniest part? Lily and Sam didn't even like it that much! 

So the moral of the story is J, LJ, and SJ still wish Mommy served up more "fake food" every once in awhile... but we anomalously agree that Spagettios don't have to appear regularly on the table.

The general consensus was "Meh."

(You know you're a hippie when you have an entire blog post devoted to picking on Spaghettios. You're welcome!)