301773 Tue Mar 28 19:55:13 -0800 2006 23 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1684628 My 2 1/2 year old is interested in trying sushi, whenever he sees my husband and I eating it. We would like to order him a roll or some sushi but don't know how to introduce him to it. Should we get inside out rolls and cut them into bite size pieces? I have a feeling the seaweed that wraps a regular sushi roll may be too chewy for him. Any suggestions or experience in this? Tue Mar 28 19:55:13 -0800 2006 0 brooklynmasala 1 1684631 I get my 2 1/2 year old son sushi wrapped in soy paper -- it's not as chewy as the seaweed. He loves California rolls and shrimp tempura rolls! Tue Mar 28 20:38:46 -0800 2006 1684628 0 boogiebaby 2 1684640 PLEASE do NOT feed your children any tuna or non cooked fish. Tue Mar 28 22:45:31 -0800 2006 1684631 0 Pediatrician 3 1684645 What age do you think is safe? Am I mistaken to think raw fish is eaten by fairly young kids in Japan? Tue Mar 28 23:13:15 -0800 2006 1684640 0 Ciaolette 4 1684649 Traditions in Japan may go back many years, although my memory growing up there until 10 was that sashimi always was "adult" food. But the mercury issue is pretty recent - at least the current understanding of the virtual epidemic and the actual amounts of mercury in almost all fish. So I wouldn't go by what the Japanese traditions have been. Pregnant women and children should not be getting exposed to mercury. Period. Tue Mar 28 23:58:09 -0800 2006 1684645 0 applehome 5 1684683 Thank you, this is correct. Wed Mar 29 10:52:14 -0800 2006 1684649 0 Pediatrician 6 1684701 Thank you both.That makes perfect sense. When I lived in Hawaii, 20 years ago, we thought of the local Ahi tuna as a perfect food, and my step daughter at the time, from an early age old loved to eat Hawaiian style ahi sashimi, which is sliced thin and served with shredded cabbage and hot chinese mustard and soy sauce. When you live in a place as clean and beautiful as Kauai, you mistakenly think that the ocean is pure and perfect as it has always been. It is so sad that humans are doing such a grand job of screwing everything up. Wed Mar 29 12:25:54 -0800 2006 1684683 0 ciaolette 7 1684743 I though mercury in fish was found naturally in nature and has nothing to do with pollution. I cam across this interesting website while trying to get info about mercury in fish. It seems like both side have an agenda Link: http://fishscam.com/ Wed Mar 29 15:51:22 -0800 2006 1684701 0 cdmedici 8 1684749 I have no agenda, if you want to feed your children raw or contaminated fish when there is no reason to then by all means go ahead. With that being said it is unavisable. Wed Mar 29 16:38:47 -0800 2006 1684743 0 Pediatrician 9 1684759 Whoa! Slow down Turbo. I was not referring to you. I mean the activists organizations like gotmercury.org who seem to be trying to scare people away from eating any fish whatsoever. It just seems to be that there are certain health benefits to eating fish and that avoiding seafood altogther because of mercury would have worse health effects then eating none at all. Orgs like gotmercury.com don't care about peoples health as much as they care about saving the sea turtles. Your intentions seems honest enough. Wed Mar 29 17:23:09 -0800 2006 1684749 0 cdmedici 10 1684786 Hi, I don't pay attention to extreme web info , right or left. And , sure there is natural mercury. But here in California I have read in mainstream media that the Bay Area fish supply is high in mercury because of the massive amounts used in the mining operation in the Sierras, which runs off into the rivers and down to the sea. It's pretty clear that feeding your kids fish with high mercury is not a great idea. I think that's all this conversation is about. Not about adults eating reasonable amounts of fish with some mercury content. Wed Mar 29 21:50:14 -0800 2006 1684759 0 ciaolette 11 1685017 just to keep the definitions clear. from what i understand, "natural" mercury is for the most part industrial mercury which has been converted by microorganisms. it is therefore more easily absorbed because it is in an "organic" (in terms of a chemistry, not agricultural point of view). there is probably more of this "natural" organic mercury in the environment now than there was before because of pollution. whether or not fish in the diet are a dangerous source of methylmercury is a separate question in my opinion. Mon Apr 03 20:52:09 -0700 2006 1684786 0 epicure-us 3 1684657 Last time I checked, shrimp tempura rolls and california rolls were cooked. Wed Mar 29 05:29:41 -0800 2006 1684640 0 boogiebaby 4 1684681 I was not pointing you out specificaly, I just happened to hit the reply button after reading your last post. I find it interesting how trying to educate or help someone is so often met with sarcasm. Wed Mar 29 10:51:44 -0800 2006 1684657 0 Pediatrician 1 1684633 The last time we were at sushi we brought our 4 month old. Next to us was a couple with a little girl of about 2 years old. We asked them the same question because we would like to have our little girl enjoy sushi as well eventually. She said that her daughter started out with crunchy rolls and eel rolls. I guess all kids like fried (hence crunchy roll) and sweet (hence eel roll). Tue Mar 28 20:59:13 -0800 2006 1684628 0 cdmedici 1 1684634 About a month ago, my almost two year old grabbed a piece of my california roll off my plate and popped it in her mouth. She loved it and we've been eating different rolls about once a week since then. Philly rolls seem to be her favorite, and she seems to have no problem with the seaweed. Tue Mar 28 21:24:21 -0800 2006 1684628 0 Texpatriot 1 1684655 I would not introduce raw fish to kids until at least 4 or 5 due to mercury levels and weak immune system. If you want to introduce your kids to rolls, go with kappa roll which has sliced cucumber in them or Oshinko (yellow sweetend pickle) roll. Just as a side note, nori is not a easy food to digest and your kids may choke on it if 2 or more pieces are consumed at once. Wed Mar 29 01:18:00 -0800 2006 1684628 0 theSauce 2 1684852 Mercury, I understand, but similar to dogs being good for small kids (helps "build up" their immune system), wouldn't eating raw fish at an early age do the same thing? Fri Mar 31 09:52:35 -0800 2006 1684655 0 rudeboy 3 1684870 i could be wrong.. so someone correct me. but first off i know mercury isn't just bad for you, it's a poisonous toxin, what i'm not sure if i'm right about is that it's not easily flushable from your system. only certain things will carry it out because they bind to the mercury. because it is a poison, it's not like you can vaccinate yourself against it. which is essentially what exposing dogs to children is... you're giving their bodies the opportunity to create anti-bodies which will prevent them from having reactions in the future. a vaccine is really a dose of whatever it is you're trying to fight. i never had the chicken pox so i got a chicken pox vaccine and i was told to stay away from those with chicken pox and that i might get a couple little red bumps. so i'd compare mercury to the aluminum product found in antiperspirants in that a little is ok but mass amounts will end up accumulating in your system and you can't get it out easily. Link: http://tongueandcheek.ca Fri Mar 31 13:01:30 -0800 2006 1684852 0 pinstripeprincess 3 1684892 No offense, but I don't think that makes sense. People aren't allegic to eating raw fish... they can get parasites, bacteria or viruses from uncooked fish. Most aren't all that serious in adults with strong immune systems, but a child could have a much bigger problem, especially since they can get dehydrated more easily. I don't think anyone who has a kid who has had a serious digestive issue would take the risk. It can take them a long time to bounce back and sometimes the cure is as bad as the illness. I worked in couple of sushi restaurants and saw the whole process from start to finish. There's a lot of margin for error and, even if they do everything right, there could still be a problem... I'll wait until he gets quite a bit older before I let him eat raw fish and (even though it will make me a total hypocrite) I don't think I'll let him have raw oysters (or a motorcycle) until he gets his own place. Fri Mar 31 15:34:36 -0800 2006 1684852 0 butterfly 4 1684911 parasites, bacteria or viruses in sushi? I don't think that anyone would suffer well from that. Sat Apr 01 00:13:00 -0800 2006 1684892 0 rudeboy 4 1684932 Huh...you might just have explained something to me that I never gave a second thought to: I worked in a sushi restaurant for like a second and I remember the VERY young Japanese kids eating bowls of chopped-up tako with tobiko but never sashimi. Sat Apr 01 20:34:55 -0800 2006 1684892 0 CH Addict 1 1684664 My son is four and eats cucumber rolls, avocado rolls, tamago (egg), kanpyo maki, oshinko, futomaki, smoked salmon, natto, inari... If we're eating in a restaurant, I ask them to cut his into twelve pieces instead of six. Or I have them do a handroll. If we get take out, I cut the pieces in half with a serrated knife. It's a lot easier for him to eat that way. Something about the combination of the rice and seaweed makes it very easy for kids to choke on the rolls. He loves fish and we live somewhere with great fresh fish, but I still stick with the non-raw stuff. I just don't feel comfortable risking it at this point. Wed Mar 29 08:42:44 -0800 2006 1684628 0 butterfly 1 1684883 When it comes to your children, speak to you pediatrician 1st. Frankly, you don't know who we are, and should not take our advise when it comes to young kids safety regardless of how authoritative they/we might sound. Fri Mar 31 14:19:24 -0800 2006 1684628 0 Michele Cindy