Each month, TanQ partners up with a non-profit organization and designs a unique tee to reflect the mission of the organization. They then sell those tees and donate 100% of the net profits for the first 12 months back to the organization.  And guess who benefits from TanQ this month?  SPOON!  And you, too, if you buy one of their shirts, because they’re super cute and sure to be a conversation starter everywhere you go!

In continuing with our series on transitioning kids to the diet of a new culture, today I’ll share some of the information gleaned from our parent survey from parents who adopted from Ethiopia:

The transition diet is one you develop to help bridge the gap between your child’s native diet and what eventually will become his or her regular diet at home. The transition diet often includes recipes and foods from the native diet. A good way to start the transition process is to ask exactly what foods your child ate in the orphanage or foster home, using that as a base for your cooking at home. As one parent put it, “I would encourage all parents to adapt the foods they present to mimic what the child had at the orphanage during the first months home. It is an easy adaptation that parents can make to create a more familiar environment during what can be a hard transition.” It may also be helpful to watch the caregivers feed your child at least one meal before returning home. Simple things such as the temperature or texture of foods may be important to your child. One mother wrote, “Our daughter was on formula at the orphanage but they gave it to her very, very hot. It took us a while to realize she wanted everything HOT and would cry hysterically if it wasn’t hot.” Even if you don’t know exactly what your child ate previously, incorporating native foods into his or her diet is a great way to help your child transition to a new culture, as well as preserve traditions from his or her first culture.

Native Ethiopian foods that are commonly served in the orphanages are injera (a spongy bread made from teff flour) and different types of stews, including doro wat, (a spicy chicken stew) misir wat and kik wat (lentil stews), and shiro wat (chick pea flour stew). Beans, especially lentils and chick peas, are very common, as are tropical fruits such as bananas and mangos. Other foods commonly served in Ethiopian orphanages are scrambled eggs, rice, collard greens, and pasta.

Once home, every child’s food preferences will be different, and it will likely take some trial and error to discover what your child will eat and enjoy. The following food ideas may help your Ethiopian child transition into a new culture:

• Ethiopian stews tend to be fairly spicy, so your child might enjoy some added heat. Many parents found that their newly adopted child readily ate Mexican food such as huevos rancheros and other similar foods. For huevos rancheros, simply scramble eggs and top them with cheese and a spicy salsa.
• Red sauces are also a common favorite among Ethiopian children. Try making pasta with spaghetti sauce, or incorporating spicy red salsas into more of your dishes.
• Pancakes are similar to injera, the staple food in Ethiopian diets, so your child might feel comfortable eating these. Try making them both savory and sweet if your child enjoys them.
• Other excellent transition foods include fruits, potatoes, beans, rice, breads, and any type of stew.
• It is always a good idea to learn how to make native Ethiopian dishes. Your child might remember and enjoy these foods, and as one adoptive parent put it, “these kids have so many losses (language, culture, family, country) that we should attempt to let them keep as many of their native foods as possible, especially during the transition.”

We often get emails from parents who are having difficulty transitioning their children from their native diet to the diet of their new home, region, and country.  As a result, we surveyed a couple of hundred parents last summer about what foods and techniques were the most helpful during the transition.  I thought I’d share some of the info gleaned from that survey here, one country at a time.  Today, China…..

The transition diet is one you develop to help bridge the gap between your child’s native diet and what eventually will become his or her regular diet at home. The transition diet often includes recipes and foods from the native diet. A good way to start the transition process is to ask exactly what foods your child ate in the orphanage or foster home, using that as a base for your cooking at home. As one parent put it, “I would encourage all parents to adapt the foods they present to mimic what the child had at the orphanage during the first months home. It is an easy adaptation that parents can make to create a more familiar environment during what can be a hard transition.” It may also be helpful to watch the caregivers feed your child at least one meal before returning home. Simple things such as the temperature or texture of foods may be important to your child. One mother wrote, “Our daughter was on formula at the orphanage but they gave it to her very, very hot. It took us a while to realize she wanted everything HOT and would cry hysterically if it wasn’t hot.” Even if you don’t know exactly what your child ate previously, incorporating native foods into his or her diet is a great way to help your child transition to a new culture, as well as preserve traditions from his or her first culture.

Transition foods for children adopted from China often are based around rice, noodles, eggs, and meat. Familiar foods may include congee (see recipe below), rice, and eggs in many forms, such as steamed eggs (see recipe below), hard boiled eggs, and egg drop soup. Other familiar foods might include stir-fried rice with a little meat and veggies, boiled rice porridge, dumplings, noodles, peas, chicken, and fruit such as bananas, watermelon, and mandarin oranges. Depending on the province the child is from, spicy foods may be familiar and preferred.

Some children from Chinese orphanages may need to be on a soft food diet, even if it does not seem age appropriate. Sometimes children in orphanages are on a soft or liquid diet until they are 3 or 4 years old due to lack of funds for solid foods. Formula is often diluted and sometimes sweetened with sugar. If your child has been on a soft food diet, start with simple, soft foods such as bananas, eggs and rice and slowly introduce new foods and textures.

Even though Carrington was born over 4 years ago her story truly began just a mere 10 months ago. My husband Brian and I had already completed one international adoption of three 5 1/2 year olds with Down Syndrome from an orphanage in Eastern Europe and we thought our family was complete. We knew there were so many orphans who needed families so we chose a little girl to advocate for. She was transferred to an adult mental institution that was in terrible condition with a director who would not even tell us if she was alive until her family arrived, but no family came forward. Our hearts asked God why and the answer we received was that we were to be her family. Now we had only been home 3 months from our first adoption and going overseas again and raising a large sum of money was not on our radar. After much prayer we committed to her. But we were informed that this little girl may not even be alive and would we want to consider another child? Our decision was ‘yes’ and we committed to a little girl who went by the name of Anastasia and was almost 4 years old with Down Syndrome.

Doors were swung wide open and people were placed in our paths that helped us complete our dossier in less than 4 weeks. Off we went to Eastern Europe once again. This particular adoption was full of tumultuous events and people that were less than honest but we still moved forward. Little Anastasia, who we named Carrington, was not a 4 year old one would expect to see. We met a frightened little girl with a shaved head who was so very small. Carrington was the size of a 6 month old and could not do any milestones that a child even that age could do. Each visit with Carrington was painful because our little girl would do nothing but throw up the whole time we held her and she would cry out in pain because we were touching her. Almost every single tooth in her mouth was broken or infected so she did not want anything near her mouth or face. Due to cultural inhibitors, Carrington wasn’t given the same level of care that many children in her orphanage were given. Each time we went to pick Carrington up for a visit or return her from our time together we could tell that her caregivers had distanced themselves emotionally from her. Come to find out some time later, Carrington was placed in a room commonly known as a “laying room” also known as a “dying room….”  Read the rest of Carrington’s story here.

Please watch this short video of some of the little ones that are benefiting from SPOON’s Orphan Nutrition programming.  I love the caregiver’s enthusiasm!

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Notice the colorful, crunchy vegetables

Part of SPOON’s work with the Kazakhstan Orphan Nutrition Project has been the development of a new menu for kids living in Baby Houses.  The new menu, developed in conjunction with our in-country partners the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition, has a greater variety of foods which are higher in micro and macronutrients than foods from the old menu.

We just received some photos of kids eating foods from the new menu.  I love that the foods have a variety of textures and are colorful and healthy–all characteristics that will prevent nutrition deficiencies and feeding disorders down the road.

I love the family style eating 🙂

Beautiful bottle feeding with face to face interaction and eye contact

As most of you know, it’s been an exciting fall for SPOON – we’ve gotten early word that our Orphan Nutrition Project in Kazakhstan is bound for national impact, and we’ve received funding to expand our work to countries including China, Vietnam and Mexico in 2012.

We hope you will enjoy this picture of how – with your support – we’re making a difference in thousands of little lives.

And we hope you will help us to spread the word about SPOON’s impact, by sending this video to your  friends and family, posting on your Facebook page and listservs, and forwarding on to adoptive parents you know.

With many thanks,

Cindy and Mishelle
SPOON Co-Founders