Another lesson that Josh and I have learned through our adoptions is how important food can be to a child.

We often talk about "comfort food", and how eating something that we enjoy and that is familiar can make us feel good inside. To a child whose entire life has been turned upside down, having some familiar food can be extremely comforting.

Josh and I have seen this in all of our transracial adoptions (not counting the two infant adoptions). Even our two daughters who were adopted domestically struggled with the huge change in diet they experienced when they were adopted and found comfort in familiar meals and foods.

I remember being in Vietnam, and towards the end of the trip I was just dieing for some familiar food. I did really enjoy the Vietnamese food, but I was far from home and just craving something that I was used to. A friend brought me a cheeseburger and fries from a restaurant and it was one of the best meals I have ever eaten! :)

Amanda came home and ate her weight in rice daily. We knew that in Korea she was used to eating rice with each meal, and so we kept a pot of white, instant rice ready on the stove. In the beginning, that is all she wanted for the most part, and she even chose her beloved rice over the Easter chocolate that was everywhere at the end of her second week home.

She would get completely excited and then utterly content when she had her little bowl of rice in front of her. It was something familiar and it was comforting.

If your child comes from a culture with foods that are very difficult for the average American to prepare, you can still find foods that are familiar and comforting. For example, many kids from Ethiopia come home and enjoy large amounts of bread, bananas and hard boiled eggs.

So while I we learned that you need to change diet slowly, we also learned how important and comforting familiar foods can be to a newly adopted child.

If possible, find out what sorts of foods your child is used to eating and what they particularly enjoy. As much as you can, have those foods available in your child's early days and weeks home, and also make available the foods that your family normally eats. You will likely find that over time your child starts to enjoy a wider variety of foods and that foods which are familiar and "normal" for you, becomes familiar, normal and enjoyable to your child.

Providing familiar, comforting food for a newly adopted child can be a great way to help your child feel "at home" and for you to help make all of the overwhelming changes in his life just a little bit easier.

More on adoption, kids and food:

Adoption ABCs - Food

* Picture from Liquid Library