Vacation for dinner.

Several years ago Mark and I were apart of a supper club. Once a month we gathered with friends (without kids) and experienced themed dinner parties that allowed us to dive into other cultures. Beautiful tables were set (this was my favorite part, I would go all out for the theme), everyone researched food from the specified country and brought their new culinary discovery, and sometimes we even dressed up as was the case with the pirate dinner party (oh, I should really post pics of that one!). But folks started having more babies and then it became more difficult to find adult time. Our club disbanded



This had become a monthly occasion that I looked forward too and I was determined to find a way for a thread of it to continue. Shortly after the end of our group, Savannah and I found a set of books at the library that gave me an idea. It's a series of books put out by Disney where the familiar characters of Mickey, Goofey, and Donald experienced countries around the world. Each book explores food, culture, folk tales, toys, and holidays from a specific country. And with that, theme night was born!



Savannah and I started off with a book about Germany. We read the book all week with much discussion, found Germany on the map several times, googled pictures of the German country side, and researched recipes for our "German Night." By the end of the week when we reached German night, Savannah was about to explode with excitement over the meal! "Germany Food" as she calls it has been a favorite ever since. She was 2 1/2 at the time.



This theme has continued with many other countries and we study each one and explore new tastes and ingredients each time. Just by preparing a meal together she is learning history, literature, geography, math (measuring), social studies, language, and music (we try to find music from that country). Not to mention improved health by opening up a variety of foods and flavors to her world.



Try it at your house to broaden your child's world, encourage a picky eater, or to take a cheap vacation in your very own home. It can be as easy as reading a Fancy Nancy book (she adores Paris!), watching Ratatouille or Beauty and the Beast and then preparing a simple French meal (Savannah is a big fan of the creme brulee!). You probably already have a few children's books that mention other countries lurking on your shelves.



Just a few ideas:

The Princess and the Frog/Cajun food and music (FUN!)
Mary Popping/British food/tea party (this brought up an interesting conversation about accents)
Fancy Nancy/Ratatouille/Beauty and the Beast/Elloise in Paris/French food
Brer Rabbit/ southern food/soul food (get your kid to try greens!)

These are just a few off the top of my head but ideas abound. I'll try to post our theme nights with book and menu ideas as we do them from now on. And please feel free to share your own.