I beat big food


yogurt edition

The first yogurt my daughter ever tried was homemade. This is a source of pride for me, since I obsess about getting the home food staples right. She ate yogurt like this for her first few years as an infant, perhaps with a little sweetener like honey.

Then, on a week I I couldn't make any, we brought some from the grocery store. I mean, what is the harm right? Just to hold us over. We bought some store brand yogurt, ultra sweet, in it's colorful plastic container packaging, covered in cartoon animals. Next thing you know, my daughter is asking for "the bear yogurt".

I thought to myself, "crap, that is it. How will I compete with that, this product, designed to razzle and dazzle kids". My yogurt is plain white, of a different softer texture, and tends to be tart.

I later came across an instagram video of someone shaving a frozen strawberry with a microplane over a dessert. Basically, you make a shaved ice of the strawberry, and let it fall wonderfully over the yogurt.

One day I prepared myself a bowl of my yogurt, added blueberries tucked in one corner, musli with raisins tucked in another, shaved mountain of frozen strawberry in the center, and drizzled honey across all of it. I casually offered it to my daughter, and she couldn't resist. Now, she asks for "papi's white yogurt".

Simpler as that, I beat another "big food" product out of our house.