Hans

Hi Auhammer,
many restaurants have their menu online, if you want to take a look. Here's a link to the children's dishes of a rather traditionally German restaurant in Heidelberg: http://www.palmbraeu-gasse.de/EN/spe...ne_gaeste.html
You'll find similar dishes in many restaurants.

ripit

Auhammer - does your daughter have any dietary issues, such as diabetes, that necessitate eating regularly? If not, you my be best off not worrying about what and how much she eats. Just give her whatever you see that you think she would like if she gave it a try. Let her eat as much or as little as she cares too. Bring some toys to keep her entertained after she is done eating so the rest of you can finish your meal in relative peace. Make sure and keep meal times a no stress affair. In no time - probably a day or too - if she has not been eating much, her survival instincts will kick in and she will be hungry enough to become curious about the things you are putting on her plate that she has been turning her nose up at. I think you will be surprised at what she will eat if she feels it is her choice and not being forced upon her. Just know that she will not starve to death if she only eats bread and butter for a day or two.

Also, the advice above of introducing her to German foods before your trip is good idea.

Our son is 2 and needs a very high daily caloric intake (nearly 2000 calories). It is very stressful trying to get a picky toddler to eat that many calories each and every day. We find the more stressed we get and the more we try to force him to eat, the less he will eat in turn. As long as we keep it light and offer a lot of fun choices, he eats pretty well (and will try just about anything).

Of course we still wish he would eat more!

Pausanias

If you don't tell her that the schnitzel isn't chicken, she won't know the difference. Try it at home -- slice some pork loin, pound it, dip it in egg and bread crumbs and fry. slice it lengthwise to look like fingers. Tell her it's chicken.

German food is generally not highly seasoned and is pretty kid friendly.

tcreath

I too am a very picky eater and I'm obviously not a child but I understand how problematic it can be. I hate it that I'm so picky, and its certainly not my favorite trait, but its who I am. I don't stray very far away from things that I am comfortable with, mostly because I don't want to offend anyone in a foreign country by not liking what's on my plate. That being said, I have traveled fairly extensively throughout Europe and have never had problems finding things I like, and Germany is no exception. I found almost everything I ate to be quite delicious!

I don't eat much meat either, but I did have turkey schnitzel in a few restaurants in Germany that was delicious and I honestly don't know if I would have been able to tell that it wasn't chicken if I hadn't already known. Scnitzel is usually pretty thin and then breaded and fried so its easy to "disguise" the meat. Its delicious!

Bakeries are also a great suggestion. The bread and croissants and incredibly delicious. Spätzle (the little dumplings mentioned above) and french fries seem to be on most menus.

Good luck and happy travels!
Tracy

Grcxx3

I"m with clz - I don't worry too much about what the kids east when we're on vacation. When they were younger - it was lots of french fries, nuggets, and pasta bars- with fruit thrown in when possible and they had milk whenever possible.

Now they are older and eat all sorts of things, but I still don't stress about it if all they want a burger or nuggets.

In Germany, the both LOVED the vienner schnitzel. It took over a week - but they finally got sick of it and opted for Thai food!!!!!

celticdreams

HANS!!

That's one of my favorite bars in Heidelberg. Always an interesting crown. It was also one of the first restaurants I ate in over 10 years ago. I never thought to see if they had a website. Fun to see.

carla1183

My younger sister ate a lot of turkey schnitzel (i think it was called schnitzel pavo or something) and it tastes like a big chicken nugget. I'm sure your daughter would eat that.

If all else fails, most cities in Germany seemed to have a lot of American fast food, so if she has to survive on McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Burger King, I definitely remember seeing them!