What is typical Spanish food for children?

One of the many things we love about living in Spain, is the food.  We have always encouraged our children to eat whatever we eat. I couldn’t really tell you what is really considered as typical Spanish food for children, with the exception of the incredible range of dulces, bollerías, chuches, golosinas which are becoming a bit too common for my liking!

When we go to the UK, which is not that often,  it is almost impossible to order plates from the kid’s menu that are as considered as healthy, (we’re not talking about visiting any fancy natural food place here, you know the ones I mean don’t you!). What we think of as typical English food for children are the likes of fish fingers and chips, sausage and mash, nuggets etc (you get the gist!).

In contrast, in Spain, it is very typical to see families sharing the same food. I suppose this is probably due to the fact that it is common to order plates that are placed on the table for all to share, rather than everyone ordering their own plate. Children’s “less healthy” options are available, but are not as common.

Here are some of our children’s favourite Spanish food:

Almejas and Calamares a la Romana: Small clams in a garlic sauce and squid rings in batter.

Almejas and calamares

Almejas and calamares

Sopa de picadillo: A whole meal in itself. It’s a type of consommé with bits of chicken , egg, ham, mint and noodles in it. It varies depending where it is ordered.

sopa de picadillo

Sopa de picadillo

Arroz y Paella:  A variety of rice dishes or a traditional paella.

paella

Arroz o paella

Tortillitas de camarones:  A kind of battered pancake with tiny prawns.

tortillitas

Tortillitas de camarones

Bocadillos de salchichón y queso: A bread roll with a type of cold Spanish sausage and cheese. There is a wide range of cold Spanish meats available that are enjoyed by the children.

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Spanish embutidos

Boquerones al vinagre: Filets of whitebait pickled in vinegar and garlic.

spanish food for children

Boquerones al vinagre

Gambas Pil Pil: Prawns cooked in a garlic and chilli oil.

gambas pil pil

Gambas pil-pil

Jamón Iberico: Good old Spanish cured ham

spanish jamon

Spanish Jamón

Pan con aceite (y tomate) : A typical Spanish breakfast of bread with olive oil (and optional tomato)

spanish food

Pan con aceite y tomate

Arroz con leche: A cold version of rice pudding but often homemade and with a lovely taste of cinnamon.

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Arroz con leche

 

Crema catalana: A scrummy citrus infused silky custard. (See our new Children’s Language-Learning Activity Book for the recipe)

crema catalana

Crema catalana

Visiting a new place is a great way of getting children to taste new foods Click To Tweet

So, there you have a few ideas of what might be the best kinds of Spanish food for children. Visiting a new place is a great way of getting children to taste new foods. Don’t be scared of getting them to try something completely different. If you aren’t, they won’t be!

What are your children’s favourite Spanish foods? We’d love to hear about them.

¡Hasta pronto!

PS: If you’d like a free sample of our English / Spanish language-learning activity cookbook for children, just SIGN UP HERE.

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