Family | Have you ever seen such wonderful sandwiches? Linda Nyberg’s breakfast breads amaze with their ingenuity

All started by chance, with a fun whim. Years ago Linda Nyberg then asked her 3-year-old child what she would like for breakfast.

Kalan, the child answered jekkuna. Nyberg decided to go along with the joke.

There was oval bread in the cupboard. Nyberg lubricated the slice with cream cheese and placed it on a plate. He then cut half-coin-shaped “fins” and pepper scales from the throat to the fish.

Lastly, Nyberg put blueberries on the fish eyes.

“When I put the fish bread in front of the boy, his laughter was a wonderful reward. It became a fun moment, he was so totally surprised, ”Nyberg says.

Now, four and a half years later, Nyberg has probably already made several thousand fun-shaped breakfasts and dinners for his child. Eagles, hippos, snakes staying on the plate have been born on the plate.

In Nyberg’s handling, the banana becomes a three-dimensional dachshund on the edge of a cereal bowl. Kiwis, rye bread, berries and carrot strips become squirrels.

But is there one place here where a parent experiencing the cross-pressure of different demands may feel a sense of inadequacy?

“No one needs to experience inferiority if they don’t know or have time to do such things. But you also don’t have to be a superparty or a mother to be successful, ”Nyberg says.

“

“This has been an easy way to introduce a child to new ingredients.”

Children are grateful that they often notice all sorts of surprising extra stuff.

“It is enough for bread or yoghurt to have eyes or ears. There is no need to do anything super right now, and never. ”

Nyberg has found that whimsical doses make it possible to entice a child to taste new flavors.

“For me, this has been an easy way to introduce a child to new ingredients. Young children rarely eat whole doses. They nibble a little on here and there. Playful portions can spark a new kind of interest in food. ”

In the past, Nyberg’s child didn’t like tomatoes at all. Maybe it stinged in the mouth.

One day Nyberg had put half a cherry tomato in the teddy bear’s nose and the boy tasted it unnoticed.

“She was surprised herself when she realized she had eaten a tomato.”

“

“The restaurant is also thinking about how to present the food so that the end result is attractive to the customer.”

There can also be fun conversations at the rations. Nyberg and his children have talked about what bears eat at a porridge bowl showing a teddy bear’s face.

A serious adult might ask if there is a fuss about playing with food. For Nyberg, it is a matter of presentation.

“When adults go to a restaurant, they have also thought about how the food is prepared and displayed so that the end result is attractive to the customer. I see my own doses in the same way, that is, I present the food in an attractive way from the child’s point of view. ”

Over the years, many have been inspired by Nyberg’s servings. His @ breakfastformyson Instagram account has 8,000 followers. Nyberg has also published a book on servings A plate of love.

What to do if you want to get started with portions?

Nyberg advises that it is easy to shape an animal’s face with a bowl of yoghurt or porridge. Even a teddy bear is born when you make banana coins for your eyes and put berries or raisins into pupils.

Dried apricots or apple slices make teddy bear ears. A triangular slice of fruit or cucumber becomes a muzzle on which you can place a berry or nut on your nose, for example.

“If you want to make another mouth, you can cut one from a vegetable or fruit.”

Another easy thing is a bread butterfly: when a slice of toast is cut in half from corner to corner and the points of the triangles are placed opposite, the plate has the wings of a butterfly.

“The child can then decorate it himself, even if he cuts vegetables and fruits or puts other raw materials ready.”

“

“Raisins and cashews become wonderful eyebrows.”

For three-dimensional servings, cocktail sticks are needed to keep the parts of the animal characters stuck together.

Nyberg makes portions of ingredients that are ready at home, most often bananas, cucumbers, berries, dried fruits and nuts.

“Raisins and cashews become wonderful eyebrows. I’m not afraid to mix vegetables and berries in the same portion. ”

He takes about five minutes on a regular weekday morning to make a dose. On weekends, you can do more complicated stuff.

For example, he develops ideas based on what kind of character the child is asking for a dose. Now that making doses is a routine, he may sometimes wake up to a new idea in his mind in the middle of the night. It should be written down immediately.

“I don’t want to accidentally copy others, so I don’t like to look at ideas from Instagram accounts of people who make similar doses, for example. I want my ideas to be my own. ”

Nyberg’s firstborn is now in first grade, and he’s started making fun of the dishes himself.

For Mother’s Day, she made a mouse-shaped bread for Nyberg.

Here’s how to make 3 easy animal doses

HS Our Family is a magazine focused on families and parenting, edited by Helsingin Sanomat. The story has appeared in issue 1/2022.