OK...it may not be THE ultimate baby food taste test...but as far as our family goes, it's as close as we'll get. I took the girls for a trip to the supermarket and we chose a selection of flavors. The girls thought it was the best thing ever (at least for that day). They helped get all the jars organized on the table and got every baby spoon they could find. We got out the video camera to document it all, got a piece of paper and a pen, and then started tasting.We chose Gerber flavors since it's a well known brand, and having one brand seemed a little more scientific somehow. I did choose one flavor from another brand: Country Breakfast, which is made by the Beech Nut brand. I only chose this one because it sounded so intriguing.... How were they going to get an entire country breakfast in that jar?!
Things started off well enough. First up was Pear, which everyone thought was a winner. Next came Sweet Potato and things went quickly downhill. M (5yr old) just said, "YUCK!" E (3yr old) wasn't sure at first....but then decided, "It tastes weird." Erin said it would be OK if you've never tasted the real thing. I thought it was kind of like bland V8 yogurt....hmmm.
Apple Blueberry came next and everyone was happy again. E summed it up: "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!"
The fruit flavors were definitely the winners. (we also tried Apple Strawberry Banana) The vegetable flavors were more of a challenge. Typical coments: "Yucky, and it looks GROSS!" I think Erin summed up the vegetable ones the best: "Tastes like it should be good for you...but there is no joy in it." Unless you're a baby I guess.
Well.. that brings us to the meat ones! The fact that an entire meat dinner is made into something that looks (and smells a bit) like bad yoghurt.....this should be warning enough to stay away. But for the sake of science we carried on.
It started off OK. M actually liked the Beef and Gravy. Erin: "A little too close to what I would expect dog food to taste like." Me: "Amazingly captured the concept of roast beef without including the enjoyment."
As we came to Vegetable Chicken Dinner, M decided it was all a bit much. "I think there must be a prize for this because I don't really like many of them," she said, and decided to pass on the rest of the meat ones.
Which brings us to Country Breakfast! M decided to give it a try since it said breakfast. "This is the yuckiest one of all!!" was her conclusion. E: "YUCKY!!!" Erin: "Sour yet bland....just HORRIBLE with an AWFUL aftertaste." My conclusion: "If that's country breakfast, I'm staying in the city!!!" (at least at breakfast time).
And so ended our taste test. Our conclusions:
- Pureed fruit = GOOD
- Pureed meat = BAD
- It's a good thing we start out our lives with that food, because it would be awful if we had to progress to it as we became adults.
- Those tiny little jars are incredibly hard to get through when they're filled with "Country Breakfast!"
Hope this review was helpful for you :)
