All organic and no processed food? That’s not how he would feed his little ones. This executive chef and father of three shares his kitchen secrets with LYNN WEE.
All organic and no processed food? That’s not how he would feed his little ones. This executive chef and father of three shares his kitchen secrets with LYNN WEE.
Do chef-dads have it easier when it comes to expanding their young kids’ palates? After all, it’s easy to assume that they always make tasty meals, so why won’t the little ones eat up?
By his own confession, Joseph Yeo, executive chef and co-owner of bistro SPRMRKT, is in the same quandary as most parents. The 35-year-old has to manage a fussy-eating child and deal with the debacle of mealtimes, as well.
Carissa, his three-year-old daughter, won’t eat fish and pork, so he labels them as chicken. He also hides veggies in her favourite carbs such as pasta, hor fun and fried rice.
Occasionally, he makes fresh orange juice popsicles with sliced fruits for his kid, who has an aversion to chocolates and ice cream.
Thankfully, his elder daughter Angelica, seven, is more adventurous with food. She relishes in “gelatine-ish” ingredients, such as sea cucumber, chicken feet and beef tripe, and has even tasted Japanese delicacy shirako, a cod-fish sperm sac – which is probably on the no-no list of any adult who has food neophobia.
Avocados come first
Growing up, Joseph had very little interest in toys – his childhood revolved around watching his mum and nanny cook, and he would bother them occasionally by fiddling with rice grains, tossing noodles in a wok, and even throwing pots and pans around. It’s safe to say that the kitchen was his playground, and it still is, to date.
Joseph’s culinary dream officially began when he was 16 years old, when he worked as a kitchen assistant at Pasta Fresca Da Salvatore, and continued to work part-time while pursuing his studies. After national service, he decided to hone his craft full-time, and went on to work with big names such as Les Amis and Waku Ghin, before striking out on his own with the quirkily named bistro SPRMRKT (say “Supermarket”), which serves European-styled cuisines.
With a laugh, he tells Young Parents that he hopes he could find success, too, in shaping the taste buds of Francis, his youngest child at 12 months old. His three kids have all started off on the same solid food.
“Avocados,” he recalls. “If you Google them, you’ll see all of their health benefits. Get fresh avocados, and always puree them to remove the fibre before feeding your kids.”
Among the other first foods are broccoli, carrots, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. He will also introduce seafood slowly only when his kids are at least 18 months old.
Natural is best
Albeit his judicious efforts, Joseph doesn’t believe in feeding his kids organic food products, or refraining them from eating processed food.
“Even if I feed them all things healthy now, they will still head to McDonald’s when they grow up,” he explains. “They will still eat processed food at their friends’ birthday parties.”
“When exposed to such food at an older age, their body may not react as well compared to when they were younger. It’s all about moderate-eating from young, to allow the body to acclimatise to such products.”
Besides letting the young ones enjoy their occasional hotdog bun, he also takes them to Peperoni Pizzeria for their favourite wood-fired pizzas, and East Coast Lagoon food village and Bedok 85 hawker centre, for local food.
While the down-to-earth chef has no qualms about what they eat when they dine out, he still adheres to the habits of a professional chef when he cooks for them at home – there is no intentional adding of monosodium glutamate (MSG). He finds MSG unnecessary and uses natural ingredients to enhance a dish’s flavour.
His tip for parents: “You can add Parmesan cheese to pasta for a more savoury taste, and shiitake mushrooms and kelp to Chinese cuisine to bring out the umami flavour.”
