What to do about students who don't like food

I had my first session with a Year 8 class today.

When the bell rang for first break, one of the students stayed behind to talk to me.  He told me that he wanted to let me know that he was a very fussy eater and was it OK if he didn't eat the food he made today.

I was surprised and told him we were making tacos and burritos which are a really popular food with most kids and I thought he would be excited about making them and eating them, but instead he said, "No, I don't like any of the food that goes into those."

I reminded him about the class rule which is if  he isn't allergic to a food or couldn't eat it for cultural reasons that he needed to try at least one spoonful.  After that, if he still didn't like it, then he didn't have to eat it, but at least he had tried it.

He said "OK" and headed out to break.

In the second half of the lesson he got right into the making of the dish but just when it came to eating time, he asked to go to the toilet.  He was out of the class for a while and when he walked back in, he announced to everyone that he wasn't eating anything.

I didn't make an issue of it, but asked him to get on with the clean up and dishes if he wasn't going to eat.

At the end of the lesson, I asked him to wait behind.  I think he thought he was going to get a blasting from me so he looked surprised when I said, "How are we going to make Food Technology work for you?"

He smiled and said, "I don't know.  Are we going to make muffins?"

I laughed and said, "It's not part of the plan, but I'm guessing you like muffins?"

"As long as they're chocolate!" he said.

So then we had a bit of a chat about what he ate at home, what he liked to make and it turned out, as is often the case, that there was stuff going on at home...

So I am glad I didn't just read him the riot act!

I told him next week we were making sushi and asked him if he had ever tried it.

"No way!" he said.

"Do you like rice?"

"Yep."

"What about chicken?"

"Yep."

"So you'll eat rice and chicken sushi?"

"OK."

So we shook on it and he assured me that in next week's lesson he will try ONE piece of chicken sushi.

Watch this space.  I'll let you know next week if I get the "I don't like most food" kid to eat sushi :D