FFK53: Helping kids explore foods from different cultures, with Rachel Mujanovic

At this time of year we are all thinking about getting together with family over the holidays and sometimes thinking about what our children might or might not eat. But for some families there are additional things to take into account when their family comes from a mixed cultural heritage and need to balance different food traditions too.

Today’s episode is an interview with Rachel Mujanovic who is a Paediatric Clinical Lead Dietitian in the NHS, she comes from a family with Caribbean heritage, her partner’s family are from Bosnia, and they live here in the UK so they are definitely one of those families who are balancing lots of different cultural influences on their family dinner table. Alongside her NHS clinical expertise Rachel also specialises in helping families to help their children enjoy cultural foods to honour and explore their family’s place in the world.

In this interview we explore not only how to build your own family's cultural foods into your child's life but also how to help them to be adventurous and explore foods from other cultures too so this is helpful for going on holiday, broadening your child's palate and helping children to understand how people live and eat all over the world as well as in the kitchens of their family and friends.

Rachel has been a paediatric dietitian for nearly 10 years and is currently a Paediatric Clinical Lead Dietitian in the NHS. Fussy eating, tube feeding, Cystic Fibrosis and allergy are just a few areas that she has worked in over the years. Rachel is passionate about helping families navigate feeding their children and has a particular interest in empowering families to share and enjoy their own or other cultural foods with their children.

Links in this episode:

Rachel's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidsdietitianrachel

My World Kitchen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/my-world-kitchen

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat