Family Style

If there are good eaters and bad eaters, I would like to propose the concept of an eating prodigy. A prime example? Frankie, the almost-3-year-old daughter of Oklahoma City artists Denise Duong and Gabriel (Gabe) Friedman, who can be seen joyfully and deftly consuming all manner of cuisine on the family’s @whatthehelltheymakin Instagram account. Denise started the account years ago to record her own food adventures; now it’s a lively chronicle of how Denise, Gabe, Frankie, and Ollie, Frankie’s 9-year-old sister, eat.

I called Denise to talk about how food prodigies are made and the microcosm of her family’s food culture.

Have you always been a food person?

I grew up in a Vietnamese family that was obsessed with food — we talked about food, we cooked a lot, and we were also very critical of food. As an adult, my culinary adventures were often inspired by travel, which has always been a big part of my life. In the summer, I would just hit the road and not come back for months. When I got home, I always wanted to recreate the food I discovered — seafood pasta dishes from northern Italy and molcajete dishes from Mexico.

I know you still travel a lot, now with your family. You mentioned once that you take your own rice cooker. Is that true?

We always travel with our rice cooker. We also bring a bottle of seasoning sauce: Golden Mountain in the green bottle, that’s the one we like. And we travel with meat floss, which is the American term for cha bong. It’s an easy protein to eat with rice for breakfast.

How do you approach meals — do you meal plan or wing it?

I’ll go to the store or to the farmers market, then we base our meals around what I find. I’m a big fan of not wasting food, so if I see things are turning south, I’ll get creative and hope that the kids will like it too. Lasagnas, tacos, enchiladas, and soups are all things I make when I’ve got to use up a bunch of random ingredients.

I know you and Gabe have been together for about four years now, but this isn’t your first time as a couple, right?

That’s right; we were together the first time when we were 19. And we can still remember what we used to cook together! As poor college students we ate a lot of potatoes, carrots, soy sauce, and rice. I remember one time Gabe splurged and got us broccoli. And then he forgot to wash the broccoli, so it was sandy, but we didn’t want to waste it, so we ate it anyway!

We still cook a lot together. Gabe has a garden, and we live off that garden as long as it survives. We grow a lot of our own salad greens, tomatoes, peppers, sweet peppers, beets, and radishes.

How did your approach to cooking change once you had kids in your life?

I have to make things less spicy. But for a 2-year-old, Frankie handles spice pretty well. I try not to separate our meals too much. Both girls are very good eaters. Frankie is a toddler, so she has her up-and-down moments.

I didn’t want Frankie to be a picky eater, so I figured if I introduced her to a lot of foods early she would develop a good palate. When we eat out, we’ve realized there’s no point in getting Frankie a kid’s meal. She would rather eat falafel and saffron pasta. She wants to eat raw fish all the time. On a trip to the West Coast, we got Dungeness crab for ourselves, and we got Frankie a hot dog. But she was like, “I want to eat all your crab!” She has a very expensive palate.

One of the things that’s striking about your photos is how much Frankie cooks with you, even using knives. Is that intentional?

I found kid knives that are made for tiny children, so she can be involved. It makes it so much easier. When I’m cooking, she can be busy and help. You don’t have to play with her if you can just have her help you. It’s great.

If she’s engaged in creating the food, she is also more interested in eating the food. Gabe has been very intentional about having Ollie help in the kitchen as well, so everyone is really engaged at mealtime.

What’s your favorite thing to make together?

Gabe recently introduced the family to crunchy taco night. Everyone loves it, even the grandparents. Everyone is like a little kid around crunchy tacos.

Fresh spring rolls are another favorite. We’ll just grill some fish and have lettuces and herbs and rice noodles out. We let everyone roll their own. We always know that will be a successful meal, and the girls get plenty of veggies. I think the interactive nature is part of what the girls love.

If Denise inspired you to bring your whole family together around a hands-on meal, check out her recipe below for spring rolls with dipping sauce.