Introduce kids to international customs
Give the kids permission to play with their food. Lots of Ann Arbor restaurants reflect the cultures of their cuisine so on this vacation you can show that American table settings are not the only route to good manners. Engage different culinary customs each day, or every meal every day if adventure suits your brood. Here are some of the countries I encountered:
Japan
Slurping Turtle is the place to join the kids watching TV.
Japanese cartoons are fine art and chef-owner Takashi Yagahashi has a stunning collection. I watch "Ponzi" with my grandkids. Chef says his meals are everyday Japanese foods, casual, home-cooking. Point out two large black and white photographs of children to the kids-they depict the chef as a little boy in Japan.
Turkey
At Ayse's Turkish Café, the chalkboard menu changes daily.
Proprietor and chef Ayse Uras visits tables easily, eager to chat about ingredients in her Turkish home-cooking recipes. Hope for roasted eggplant puree, lentil soup with dried sumac and Noah pudding. Point out to the kids that a restaurant in a drab-looking strip mall can hold great surprises.
Ethiopia
At the Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant, the injera bread serves as the utensils in the traditional Ethiopian way.
The family will be knee-to-knee, huddling around low tables with woven trays and covers called mesob revealing soft and pliable foods with many flavors and colors. Eating with their hands can free the kids from skepticism about the lack of chicken nuggets or French fries. Plus - where else can you meet the personal butler to the emperor of Ethiopia?
Spain
The wait staff at Aventura excels in explaining what's what.
Discover what owner Sava Lelcaj considers Basque comfort foods, and get the kids talking about why that might be so for Spanish families. The ambience here feels like adventure, not intimidation.
Ireland
Conor O'Neills Irish Pub was built in Ireland, transported to Ann Arbor.
Owners and staff delight in tours and detail sharing so, if you ask, the family can experience how traditional pubs provide way more than food: debates, theater, basic grocery shops, storytelling, music. Shepherd's pie, leek soup, Boxty potato pancakes suited me. New vocabulary is a fun part of adventuresome dining.
Mexico
Isalita describes its cuisine as street food you can trust.
This is a good chance to talk to the kids about why sidewalk vendors aren't always the wisest choice for traveling families. Safe here. If the kids are exploring elsewhere with someone else in your party, sign up for the tequila class. More than 70 varieties are presented by educated, experienced teachers.