Think your kids won’t eat raw oysters? Do they turn up their noses at liver and onions? You need to read this post.

I had the most interesting conversation with Ceci, the woman who owns our daughter’s daycare. She has a few secret tricks up her sleeve to get kids — any kid — to eat anything.

Yes, liver. And yeah, tripe. And, yep, pretty much anything else you can imagine that you think a child would never eat. Octopus. Natto. Pancreas. You name it. All those super-nutrient-dense foods that are going to give your kiddos high cheekbones, a wide, beautiful face, and perfectly straight teeth.

I took my daughter her to the pediatrician the other day for year two-year check up. I was shocked to find out that she is slightly anemic. 10-12 is normal; she’s an 8.

This was surprising to me, considering that Kate is the only toddler I know who loves raw oysters (high in iron) and eats them every chance she can get. Still, she eats oysters only occasionally — once a week or once every two weeks. And she never eats liver anymore. I tried giving her some chopped liver the other day and she spit it out.

It may seem like I’m doing a lot of fried food these days, and I suppose that’s true. But I just (a) got a new deep fryer, (b) rendered a whole lot of beef tallow, and (c) ordered a gallon of palm oil and five gallons of expeller-pressed coconut oil. So I’m having fun playing.

Plus, it’s tough when you’ve got a toddler on your hands who’s addicted to French fries. So addicted, that anytime we go to a restaurant and anyone at the table orders fries, she refuses to eat anything else.

Speaking of said toddler, see my post about the fact that she is slightly anemic. I think it was “milk anemia”, which is fairly common for this age group. Which is why I whipped up this dish of fried clams for her. Did you know that clams are really high in iron? Who knew? Popeye should have been noshing on fried clams, not spinach.

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Almost every Saturday Kate and I go to the farmer’s market in Santa Monica and eat raw oysters on the half shell. The oysters from Carlsbad Aquafarm are so fresh (just harvested a few hours before) and unbelievably delicious. We are so lucky to live in Los Angeles and be able to eat fresh oysters for breakfast at the farmer’s market.

Every Saturday morning, Kate and I go to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market and eat oysters for breakfast. This is a photo of her last weekend. She looks cranky but it’s really impatience. You can see the pile of shells on her lap, and she’s pointing and saying, “More!”

She always draws a crowd when she eats oysters at the market. People are stunned that a toddler would willingly eat raw oysters. But why not? I figure if I get her hooked on them now, maybe she’ll love them for the rest of her life — just like her father and I do.

We were shopping at Trader Joe’s the other day; it was almost dinnertime and I think Kate was getting hungry. She grabbed a stick of Kerry Gold butter out of the cart and started eating it. It kept her happy, so I let her have as much as she wanted. The other shoppers gave me [...]