Newry Democrat - Features - Food for all the family: Getting the family together at meal times with tips from Norman Peires

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Food for all the family: Getting the family together at meal times with tips from Norman Peires

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Food for all the family: Getting the family together at meal times with tips from Norman Peires

The modern age is seeing family and eating together growing further and further apart. However, for centuries they have been integral to one another. Many people now eat on the run, in the car or in front of the TV. According to The Telegraph, one in five families now eat their ‘family meals’ while sitting in front of the television.

Studies show that having a positive and social experience when eating your meals creates healthy bonds with food and those who you share the experience with. Positive relationships with food and positive interactions with your family during meal times promote healthy eating habits and helps forge strong relationships. With one in ten children between 2-10 years old overweight or obese in the UK, it’s important to encourage a healthy relationship with food from a young age.

Read on for some ideas for getting the family together at meal times:

· South African Braai – a South African Braai is a social custom that traditionally gets all the friends and family together. A Braai is a sort of barbecue that is taken very seriously in South Africa. There’s even a National Braai Day and a National Braai Day song. South African businessman Norman Peires, now living in Buckinghamshire, is passionate about Braaing and believes it is a fantastic way for his grandchildren to get involved and to learn about South African culture.

He says, “We pride ourselves on the quality of the Braai, and it seems to keep the kids coming back!”

Getting children to learn and talk about other countries and cultures is an exciting way to introduce new flavours and textures to their palettes. Norman’s top tip for Braaing is to “use a good cut, no marinade can save a bad piece of meat”.

Here’s a delicious recipe for Braaing Steak, recommended by Norman Peires:

Flavourful Braai marinade for steak

Ingredients:

· 3 tbsp olive oil

· Juice of half a lemon

· 1 tbsp of ground cumin

· 1 tbsp paprika

· 2 tsp salt

· 1 tsp ground all spice

· 1 tsp black pepper

Preparing the steak:

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade

2. Massage the marinade into the steak and cover

3. Allow to marinate for an hour at room temperature

Braaing the steak:

1. Sear the steak for 4-5 minutes on each side in a frying pan or barbeque with a lid on

2. Remove and rest for 10 minutes

3. Slice across the grain into thin slices for serving

· Why not plan a Mexican night? Mexican food is exciting, colourful and can be very healthy. A themed food evening will get everyone interacting with each other and their food. Create a fajita mix full of peppers and chicken and get the children to assemble their own. They will be more inclined to eat and get involved if they have had a hand in making the food themselves. Make sure children know that meal time is a special time for the family to get together, as this will encourage them to have a positive relationship with food in later life.

· Create a blank shopping list on a whiteboard or just a large piece of paper. Divide into columns with categories such as ‘Vegetables’, ‘Fruit’, ‘Meat’ and ‘Treats’. Ask each member of the family to add an item to each category.

· A ‘Make your own jacket potato’ night is sure to go down well with the children. Variety is key for creating great relationships with food. Pick a range of different and colourful fillings and put them in bowls on the table. Some ideas include: tuna, cheese, olives, ham, coleslaw, cherry tomatoes and chopped peppers. Everyone in the family gets a jacket potato and they can fill it how they choose!

· Why not try visiting a food market once a week or once a fortnight? Pick up an exotic fruit or vegetable to try that you haven’t ever tasted before. You could even try getting the kids to draw it before deciding together how you will introduce it to your meal. Sweet potato chips are a healthy and colourful alternative to oven chips. You could also try scooping out the seeds from a marrow and filling with a Bolognese made from Quorn mince, then covering in foil and baking for half an hour – a delicious and nutritious meal for everyone to enjoy.

Getting everyone involved in meal times will have long term benefits to the health and happiness of your family and it doesn’t need to be time consuming. A little organisation and imagination will go a long way!