When I was a kid, we used to be spoiled with some special finger foods whenever we stayed over at my grandmother. It was called "Mannetjie-kos", which means, when translating directly, 'small-man-food'. Now that I'm a grown-up, I understand exactly why she made it for us - It is a colourful, balanced, quick and creative meal all at the same time with almost no cooking involved. It excited us so much when we were little and I thought it would be a good idea to keep the family tradition alive and to make some "Mannetjie-kos" for Danru too.
The crunchy goodness of fresh vegetables, a boiled egg, viennas and other ingredients are presented in a playful way in the form of a man. You can use anything to create your own versions: cheese, asparagus, avocado, the list is endless. No discrimination against the ladies, off course :-). You can also create a female version of this meal that would be called "Vroutjie-kos" {'small-women food'}. Add cream cheese with spring onions as grass to accompany the carrot sticks, or should I rather say, hair?
We were having a hot curry dish the other night, and I decided to take my chance and introduce "Mannetjie-kos" to Danru. He got so excited when I drew the face on the boiled egg with food colouring and he couldn’t believe that I can turn an egg into a ‘mannetjie’. I realised, once again, how easy it really is to cheer up a child's world with a bit of colour and imagination. The food disappeared so quickly, we almost didn't get a picture taken for this post! :-)
This little man with his broccoli hair and mushroom shoes will certainly put a smile to your toddlers face. The boring nagging to eat vegetables will turn into a fun game of “Let’s eat the little guy's hair!” Happy creating and eating!
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