Two things interest me about our latest star athlete, Jereem Richards. One, why did we not know more about him? I thought it was me. Like most Trinis of a certain era, I have turned off radio and television and try to keep up with the local news by reading two of the daily newspapers and listening to the gossip in the gym, Oval or around the Savannah. I thought I must have missed the stories about him. Then I spoke to two men who are into sports and both confessed they had never heard of him. In fact I first heard about him from a Whatsapp from my Venezuelan cousin who lives in Caracas, took time off looking for food for his family and who wanted to know if I was watching him run.
So much for the local media keeping us up to date with what is happening with our athletes. I have also just finished reading about Patrick Patterson in the Indian Express of July 30, a man considered by Jeffrey Dujon as the fastest fast bowler he ever kept to. He suddenly disappeared, like so many Caribbean athletes, and could not be found for 25 years until an Indian reporter, Bharat Sundaresan tracked him down last month, after five years searching! Not a single Jamaican sports reporter, not a single Caribbean sports editor cared enough to find out what had happened to a man thought by many to be one of the two or three fastest bowlers of all time.
Of course, we all know about Neymar and Ronaldo and Messi and who pinching who bottom on American TV. It’s a frenzy for a 10 days when a local wins something, a house or car is donated and something named after the athlete. I want to suggest we name a ferry after Jereem but that would be unkind to the young man. Anyway, his name is likely to be forgotten now that the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team has won gold, if 10-day Trini memories can ever get around to remembering four names!
The second thing is his mother’s wonderful, joyous remarks about the food he likes: “Once he coming home the first thing he would ask for is oildown and provisions.” Madame, thank you from the bottom of my heart. “He loves any kind of provision, dasheen, eddoes, cassava, yams. He love oildown with smoked bones, pigtail and breadfruit. Then, the stewed chicken, lentils, callaloo, pelau and roti.”
Madame, as a paediatrician, if you know how you made my day. I wish every mother in T&T would read this. This is exactly the kind of food children should start eating from six months of age and the rest of their life.
This thing about what infants (children under one year of age) should eat is really interesting. The amount of nonsense one hears is quite remarkable. Breastfeed or formula feed? As if that’s a nutritional decision. No, it’s not, it’s a socioeconomic one.
When to start weaning ie when do you start food that the family eats? What foods? How to start and give? This method. That method. Peanut butter or green peas? Baby bottled food or mammy’s pelau? Pigeon peas does give the chile worms. Children cah chew until they have teeth! Some children do not get teeth until they are 15 months old and that is normal. If the chile doh get four bottle of milk a day, it going to starve. Whew! Whoever started that one deserves the baby milk booby prize of the century and a free, all expenses paid trip to the Annual American Academy of Pediatric Conference.
The most amazing thing about feeding infants are the rules. Rules! Imagine! Rules for eating. That’s what can happen when you get people without children giving advice, or immature adults getting a degree in nutrition and being asked to write directions about the four or is it five food groups (perhaps it’s six by now) and the number of veggies and the time a day you must eat or…what? What will happen? Nothing but food formulas to make you believe you have to be numbers oriented to eat healthy!
The truth is it’s easy to feed babies but easy makes no money. Make it difficult then. Run courses and come to me so that your child can be healthy. Chew fat!
All a mother needs to know is this: Breastfeed for as long as your in-laws and your job allow, start feeding the baby the food you ate during your pregnancy at about six months and by one year the baby should be sitting down at the family table, eating everything the father eats.
What foods to start with? Well, stay away from any processed food especially cereals and juices. Look at what Jereems’s mother talked about, provision, dasheen, eddoes, cassava, yams, perfect “baby food” as if there is such a thing. It’s a term invented by food companies to make you believe you have to buy something “special” for the child. By the way most of those bottled baby foods are full of what—sweet potato!
Same people who don’t want you to give your child sweet potato and breadfruit but fill up their little bottles with sweet potato. Add in water, the lentils, callaloo, pelau, fresh fruit and an egg once a day and you good for days. Child will look like Bolt and run like him too. In his prime of course.