5 Tips for Celebrating a World of Flavors

1. Bring the world to your table. Plan new cuisines into your weekly meal pattern or have an “around the world” week with your family and taste a different cuisine each night. Whether it is trying one new food from another culture or making a whole meal, adding different foods to meals and snacks offers a taste of various cuisines and creates opportunities to learn about and appreciate other cultures.

3. Take a trip to a cultural or international foods store. Need to get some ideas for trying new cuisines? Spend the afternoon exploring cultural food stores and markets that are available to you. These markets have special items from different nations that you may not otherwise find at a conventional grocery store. Pick out a single item to incorporate into a meal, or gather all of the ingredients for a completely new dish.

4. Try new fruits and vegetables. Take the opportunity to taste new fruits and vegetables from around the world that you may not normally eat. Try adding a cactus salad, crunchy jicama, Polish beets, or fruit chutney to the menu one night. Trying fruits and vegetables from around the world not only opens your family’s mind to different cuisines, but allows for more possibilities of fruits and vegetables to enjoy throughout the whole year

5. Have the whole family involved in preparing meals together. Getting kids involved in the kitchen helps to expose them to new foods and ingredients. Choosing meals from new cuisines includes trying new foods together. Get input from the rest of the family to see what new foods or dishes they may want to try, then take some time to prepare it together. Check out this resource for tips on how to introduce your child to new cuisines from around the world. Using Food to Introduce Children to New Cultures.