Tu es ce que tu manges (You are what you eat)

The Belgian sociologist and writer Léo Moulin, in his book L´Europe à Table – tu es ce que tu manges: introduction a una psychosociologie des pratiques alimentaires asserts that “we don´t eat with our teeth and we don´t digest with our stomach; we eat with our spirit. (…) We eat our remembrances, the most secured ones, seasoned with rites that marked the early childhood”.

This assertion inspired us so that it became one of the main reasons why we have created a culinary section at Belaponte – a company which we founded in our “second home” of Sweden – with the aim to promote intercultural communication. We strongly believe that the culinary arts is one of the most important tools in the harmonization of the intercultural dialogue, equally relevant for adults and children.

If we take as an example the early childhood, which represents a period that has a major impact in a person´s life, the role of the culinary arts should be to present a varied and balanced diet to the child. In short, the meals should have a broad range of different flavors, smells, colors and textures, as much as possible. We all know that the flavors that we experienced as a child will be with us for the rest of our lives. And if we consider the global world in which we actually live, the more varied foods we taste the more easily we will accept new flavors. This could be a first great step to interacting with other cultures.

In addition, when preparing a dish, the familiarity and handling of the ingredients could serve as a means to increase the child´s vocabulary, as well as to open a new window to arouse their interest.

With the aim of helping millions of Brazilians kids abroad, not only to brush up on their Portuguese but also to improve their knowledge of English, the Belaponte company, in partnership with the publishing house Brasil em Mente, launched in 2015 the bilingual cookbook for children Sou chef! I am a chef!.

The book brings recipes from diverse parts of the World, all tested and adapted to be easily made by everyone. All of this to familiarize the “little” chefs with the diversity of culinary ingredients and flavors.

To celebrate our debut at BBMag, we have the pleasure to share with you one of the recipes of the book, a favorite of Swedish children. It is very easy to make and we guarantee that the child will learn and have a good time!

COCONUT AND OATMEAL BALLS (9 servings)

This recipe is a favorite among Swedish children and is really easy to make. Just gather the ingredients in a bowl, crush it all up, make small balls and then cover the balls in grated coconut. Invite your friends over and enjoy! Just don´t be surprised if they ask you for the recipe…

Ingredients
75 g butter
½ cup (1,0 dl) sugar
1 ¼ cup (2,5 dl) oatmeal
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
½ cup (1,0 dl) shredded coconut

Mix all the ingredients except for the coconut. Let it rest for 30 min. Roll into small balls and then cover them with the shredded coconut.