Hello!

My child simply won’t eat tomato sauce, including pasta sauces. Doesn’t like the taste. Any ideas? She still eats heaps of fresh fruit and veggies. This is especially problematic when out as most “kids meals” and tomato sauce based or deep fried (yuk!)


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  • I\’m 43 and since I was a toddler I have never liked tomato sauce. I like raw tomatoes just fine, but cannot stand tomato sauce. I am what is called a \”super taster\”. I won\’t get into a long explanation,it is better explained by others if you Google it. Just make sure you are trying to present it to your child at least 7 times, and if it isn\’t liked by the 7th time, it likely isn\’t going to be.
    I have always eaten my pasta plain with butter, sometimes Parmesan, and had fresh veggies/fruit as a side instead. There are going to be things your child dislikes, just like any other person has their likes and dislikes, you will just have to learn to live with it and work around it.


  • My kids dont like Tomato sauce only will eat BBQ sauce and I mean alot of it haha


  • My 8 yo still wont eat tomato sauce but she does like fresh tomato and will eat bolognaise etc.. so I guess I’m lucky there. Does your child eat carbonara? or cheese burgers? They are usually found on the kids menu or maybe you could just order an entre for them instead?


  • Maybe it’s just a stage.


  • If your child is enjoying a healthy, balanced diet without tomato sauce, you don’t have anything to worry about. My son will eat it but prefers chutney and my daughter is a BBQ sauce fan.


  • My daughter didn’t like cheese and one stage and mushrooms at another, but she now eats both, so maybe it’s just a phase. If not, I guess you have to find alternatives.


  • As long as your child is eating a balanced diet, I don’t think it’s a problem.


  • Doesn’t sound like a problem to me when she still eats heaps of fruits and veggies.
    I don’t have tomato sauce at home.
    You can eat pasta with veggies, without sauce, if you really want to eat pasta.
    But even eating pasta isn’t a necessity, there are plenty of other nice dishes.


  • It might just be a phase. See how you go but there are some great ideas listed below.


  • My daughter didn’t like (still doesn’t like) tomato based sauces, except for the tomato sauce that goes on hot chips. So she refused to eat lasagne and lots of Italian pasta dishes. I just heaped up the veggies on her plate


  • Thanks for the ideas – it’s fresh and sauce that are avoided by her. Really like the ricotta cheese and broth options.


  • mine all like tomato sauce but won’t eat tomatoes raw or big chunks of cooked tomato….go figure!


  • If they don’t like tomato sauce, but will eat fresh tomatoes why not chop up some fresh ones and mix through some pasta?
    TBH I hate the smell of tomato sauce, and don’t like it all over anything, but I like it when I can dip something in it :)


  • lol my eldest was like this, always refusing tomato so i wondered if it was an instinctual thing as members of the family are allergic but as of last week, she started eating them lol. Maybe this will be the case for you, if not, it is no big deal. I was wondering (because of the first comment) that maybe you could do a creamy tomato dish and see if she would like that as it is not too tangy. Does your child not like the actual taste or just the texture?


  • My toddler is the same. It’s very frustrating


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