You may hesitate to go out for dinner in a Japanese restaurant just because there might not be anything for your children to eat. Moreover, kids in Japan grow up eating sushi, and it is a good idea to introduce it to them and for sure there is nothing bad with your children eating this type of food at a young age. Generally, while many children doctors may be against feeding small children raw fish, but others have no issue with it as long as the child begins to eat solid food. in fact, children more than two and a half years old can eat sushi. (sushi for kids)
You might want to avoid eating raw fish, In other words, this kind of food is not particularly the best for a kid’s digestive system. Look for freshwater fish because it contains fewer mercury levels and it totally fine for your kid to try it.
Will They Like It?
But will they like it? That is actually the biggest question a parent can ask. Some children may freak out and completely refuse to eat something raw that is not cooked. That is why you may want to start giving them tuna, which is one of the easiest foods for the stomach to predigest. It would not give them any kind of stomach aches just in case they eat too much of it. Bonito or Katsuo is a good choice that you can look for on the menu. Both of these foods may be served as tataki, that means it is been heated a little bit.
Other choices :
Otherwise, there are another option for children including the omelet, kampyo, or also boiled shrimp. These foods are all well cooked. You can also select vegetarian sushi which is another good option for little children.
Sushi restaurants become more popular nowadays, many are making efforts to add menus for the younger kids. Those kid meals may contain fully cooked meat and it could be chicken, beef, or fish. Others offer vegetarian platters and also sushi made with vegetables. Some even add to their menu the American style foods like grilled cheese sandwiches or chicken stripes.
Read: Is Sushi Safe to Eat During Pregnancy?
In general, taking children out for sushi could be a real waste of money, especially with picky and hard satisfied children. However, when your kids are a little older, they may ask to try sushi. You can agree then, but you need to choose fish caught from clean but not salty water so it can be safe for them. But in case your little child wants to try sushi here are some safety tips for you :
Sushi For Kids: Some Safety Tips for Parents :
Make sure the fish does not contain mercury high levels.
- It’s best to avoid fish like swordfish, sea bass, shark, tilefish and king mackerel because they are high in mercury and Yellowfin tuna because it has less mercury, and it is more good for them. Also avoid “bluefin”, “Bigeye,” and albacore as these have the most mercury. Other seafood like salmon and crab have few to no mercury levels.
Avoid raw shellfish.
- It is considered the riskiest raw fish to eat because it probably contains very high mercury levels which are defiantly dangerous for your children.
Keep in mind to start with vegetarian sushi options first.
- Generally raw fish and shellfish in sushi may contain bacteria and toxic elements, however, the data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conclude that it rarely causes illness. In many places, such as Japan, where sushi is an important meal of the Japanese diet, parents wait until children are 2 to 3 years old to introduce sushi for them, but in rare cases, they wait until the child is 5 years old or more.
the importence of hepatitis A vaccine.
Make sure your child has the Hepatitis A vaccine before you introducing them to try sushi.
Hope this article helped you, if you have any questions or feedback do not hesitate to mention them in the comment section below, we will be so happy to help you!
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