Chickens Of The Sea? Let's See: Preschool Fish Tasting

Summer camp at Izzy's school ("camp"), has gotten pretty fishy. Their in-depth study of the sea has permeated every aspect of their day, including the food.

Last week, parents were asked to prepare a sea-inspired snack for the campers to share. At first I was somewhat disturbed that the kids were being served fish of one kind or another for an entire week, culminating in a fish tasting extravaganza.

If my husband had gotten wind of it he would have had a conniption, ranting about the PCB's and mercury our poor Izzy would be ingesting. Normally I would have ranted myself but I held my tongue in the name of palate expansion.

This "Taste of the Sea Extravaganza" included the following: mini tuna fish sandwiches, roasted seaweed, smoked sardines on crackers, dried marinated squid, sea salt chips, California rolls, seaweed salad and salmon cakes. I was relieved to see that some parents stretched the concept of seafood to include seaweed and sea salt, thereby reducing unhealthy fish consumption.

My contribution was the sardine-spread, to be served on a triscuit-like cracker(a Prune-inspired recipe).

What did the children actually sample? If only I had been a fly on the wall. As Izzy told it, he tried everything and nobody tried the sardine spread, they only ate the crackers. Did I scare them away with the whole fish garnish?

I later found out that two of his friends actually tried the sardine spread.. and liked it. Who knows? Maybe now Izzy will have company when I send him off to school with sardines for lunch.