Raising a foodie, one meal at a time
Inside the kitchen adventures of Theo and his growing love for good food
By Sol Vanzi
Published Sep 23, 2025 05:24 am
VEGGIE VIRTUOSO Fresh vegetables ready for Theo’s first kitchen adventures, from market to sinigang (Photo from Unsplash)
Theo Wolfe, my great-grandson, is only four, but he wakes up each morning knowing exactly what he wants for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between. Although he eats what everybody else does, he gets very specific when asked what he wants. He dislikes “maanghang” noodles. He likes Korean barbecue.
On chilly days he asks for hot champorado or lugaw. When the weather is hot and humid, he prefers fresh fruit, cereal and cold milk. Breakfast could also be leftover pasta, pizza or whatever last night’s dinner was.
HARVEST RUN
Dif’rent strokes
Theo surprises everyone at mealtime when he eats with the adults with very little or no supervision, switching from left to right hand with ease. Although he’s been observed as a southpaw since birth, he uses his right hand to blend in with the rest of the family at the table.
His mom, Jasmine, says she never forced her son to “eat like normal people” but instead explained to him that people are not all alike. At a very young age, he started to understand that all people are born equal. The family is also very careful that Theo does not overhear adult conversation that features class and other forms of discrimination.
The magic word
The first word he learned after Mommy and Daddy was help. Children naturally want to be involved in adult activities that are light enough for their size and age, but interesting and different from the usual games.
Mommy Jasmine enticed Theo into kitchen duty by not making it sound like an order, thereby making him think of it not as a chore but rather a fun thing adults do. Kisses, hugs, and praise for being such a good big boy never fail to convince kids.
Easy does it
The first step for young junior sous chef Theo was to break kangkong stems to separate the leaves, which were to go into the day’s sinigang. Theo was helped with washing the leaves in a colander.
Theo stayed in the kitchen and watched until the sinigang was cooked. He proudly helped serve lunch and got applauded. He prodded everyone to eat more kangkong. It is how he would later make everyone eat more greens and yellows, raw and cooked.
The following weeks saw Theo insisting on going to market with his mom to buy veggies. He now has his own plastic serrated knife and plastic chopping board. He can hardly wait to be big enough to do actual cooking.