On cooking with kids
"We’ve got to let them be who they are."
“I always think of myself as the nutritionist who really likes to eat,” Mia Rigden shared. “But I recognize so many of my clients—and I feel this as a working mom—don’t always have time to plan meals.”
The board-certified nutritionist and classically-trained chef has always had a passion for food. After starting her career in hospitality and PR, Mia began thinking about how to integrate her love of culture and entertaining in a way that felt nourishing. A decade-plus later, she has a thriving private practice where she works with clients and runs Btwn Meals, which provides free and low-cost resources for her community.
Becoming a parent has also played an important role in Mia’s work. “A lot of my clients are mothers, or they’re somewhere in the journey to becoming one,” she added. “I always try to lead with empathy so they can feel good, prioritize themselves, and support their family.”
This week, Mia chatted with us about how her upbringing shaped her interest in nutrition, reflected on recent food and family memories, and shared a few of her kid-approved spring snacks.
Growing up, I remember staying with my grandmother in the summer. Every day we would find a different melon—there are so many varieties!—and rate which ones we liked the best. I always looked forward to that. She grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania during the Great Depression and was the most fantastic cook. She also went to Carnegie Mellon to study nutrition, but got married and had eight children, so she didn’t actually end up practicing. She was still very ahead of her time when it came to food and nutrition.
My mom also loves to cook. I’m an only child, so she would often ask what we should have for dinner, and I would say something like, “Salmon pasta with pesto.” I was allowed to do what I wanted because I didn’t have siblings. We would also go out for dinner because it was just the three of us. I found that I was more of a dynamic eater, and I realized I wanted to work in food and hospitality, but as I got a little older I wanted the food to be healthier while also figuring out: How can we cook really exciting meals?
I recently made spring salmon pasta with some arugula and basil. It wasn’t complicated—it took about 30 minutes—but it felt elevated and exciting to the point where I wanted to get out cloth napkins and put everything in a nice dish. My kids, who are two and six, aren’t necessarily eating something like that. They’re eating plain pasta with butter and cheese, and some salmon and tomatoes, but I wanted them to see how we make it special.
Another time, we made salmon sushi rolls. It was really fun because I roasted some salmon and sliced cucumber and avocado with brown rice and edamame. It was a build-it-yourself situation. My son loved the process and said to me, “Mommy, this is so fun and creative, how did you think of this idea?” It was fun, and it was a dinner I also really liked—but he was equally as excited about it and could also make it his own.
I think autonomy with food choices is really important for kids. I stock my house with a lot of really healthy foods. Then I try to give them options. They can say that they like something or don’t like something, and I’ll encourage them to try things, but I don’t force it. We have a lot of conversations about it. For instance, my son kept saying he didn’t like salad—but he loves cucumber, tomato, and avocado. So, one day, we cut up all those things and made a little dressing with olive oil, rice wine vinegar, and sea salt. He ate a whole bowl of it and told me he loved it, and I said, “You know that’s salad, right? Not all salads are lettuce. Maybe it’s not that you don’t like all salad, maybe you just don’t like leafy greens, which I can understand.”
When I was first studying nutrition, I was a lot more rigid and had a lot of rules for myself. I remember being pregnant and feeling very nauseous in my first trimester. I couldn’t eat legume pasta because I could taste the chickpeas. I couldn’t eat any veggies. The nutritionist in me was like, “I need omega-3s! I need salmon!” But everything sounded awful. I was really upset about it because I felt like a fraud. I thought, “Here I am talking about these things that we should be doing, and now I’m unable to do it myself.” I ultimately got over that first trimester, but it was a good lesson that we do the best we can.
I’ve learned over time that not everything is going to be perfect. Your kid’s not going to like everything, even when you regularly cook homemade meals and do all the flavor training when they’re babies. And that’s okay. We’ve got to honor their food choices and still encourage them to try new things. We’ve got to let them be who they are.
“Just having a moment as a family over a delicious dinner—and making that accessible—is what I hope people can take away from my work.”
Mia’s spring snack suggestions 🩵
Fruit
Apples and some sort of nut butter are a staple for us. My daughter also loves yogurt, so sometimes we’ll have a little yogurt and berries.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
If your kids will eat them!
Edamame
It’s an excellent snack and a crowd favorite. If you put edamame and some sliced veggies on the table without saying, “You have to eat carrot,” you’d be surprised how kids will just start eating when you don’t force it.
“We also go to the farmer’s market every weekend together. It’s important and wonderful to know where your food comes from—and to have that connection to it.”
Mia’s recent joys with her kids 💙
My son is in kindergarten, and he’s really gotten into basketball and sports. It’s been fun to go to his basketball games and practices—and to watch his passions grow.
My daughter is two. Her personality is just forming, but she’s so hilarious. We got manicures for the first time together the other day. I brought one of my pink non-toxic nail polishes, and she was so excited about it and showed everyone her nails afterward.
It’s amazing to watch the progression from baby to toddler. I recently heard my daughter on our Nanit monitor. I’d gotten out of the shower, and she’d woken up early. If I don’t go into her room quickly enough, she’ll say, “Mommy, I wake up.” All of a sudden, she started screaming, “Mia! Mia! I wake up!” I was like, “Ok! I’m coming!”
