I’m one of those mums with kids who refuse to eat sourdough bread, which is unfortunate because one of our favourite activities is to go to explore our local cafés and order the same things – toasted bacon sandwiches, coffee, hot chocolates, hot chips. All of our regular places have now switched to sourdough and other fancy schmancy breads.

“Do you have any normal bread,” I asked shamefully. “My kids don’t eat sourdough.”

For those who think those hipster café dudes and dudettes are all friendly and non-judgemental I am here to say, they are judgemental. They judge me, with a shake of their man-buns and ungroomed beards I get the message loud and clear:

A good mum would have children who eat sourdough.

"Nope." Image: Giphy.com

Food has become too complicated, even kids’ food which you used to be able to rely upon for its delicious simplicity. Who can go past some delicious, fresh, sliced white bread with tuna salad or ham and cheese, toasted or not toasted but easy to eat with no bits to pick out from between your teeth.

I was reminded of how awesome simple bread is by my children who quickly cottoned on to the fact that most mums weren’t using Vienna to make their sandwiches for school.

“Mum, can we get just white bread,” my son asked, which concerned me because I thought white bread wasn’t healthy.

I know, so not true.

These days, white bread isn’t just white bread anyway. Take my favourite sliced bread of all time – Wonder White, which now comes in Wonder Smooth Wholegrain. It’s smooth, delicious, healthy and by some kind of magic stays super soft and fresh even after you’ve popped all of your fillings on there.

“Mum, can we get just white bread?" Image: supplied.

My kids get to eat white bread with their favourite fillings and toppings and I am comforted by the fact that Wonder White Wonder Smooth Wholegrain contains lots of good things such as lots of fibre and protein from wholegrains.

It’s become our bread of choice and we go through four loaves a week, even during school holidays when Vegemite sandwiches make way for fairy bread and baked beans on toast for dinner after a big day out.

Instead of eating out at cafés where the kids’ breakfasts come with a side of fried haloumi (seriously!) and ethical scrambled eggs, we’ve replaced this with some simple cooking at home.

Uncomplicated food that we really enjoy.

Instead of toasted sourdough with grilled bacon and a tomato salad garnish we have crispy fried bacon on Wonder White with a smear of real butter eaten in our PJs under blankets in front of the TV.

Instead of gigantic toasted salad wraps with complicated sauces and fillings, we roll up a piece of flat bread with our favourite ham and eat it in the backyard while playing with our dog.

We've replaced 'pinkie finger up' café meals with uncomplicated food we really enjoy. Image: iStock.

Instead of 'healthy' gourmet hamburgers we make them at home with just a beef patty, tomato, cheese and lettuce with a bit of tomato sauce. No relish in sight.

Breakfast yoghurt with soaked muesli and fruit compote is a tub of yoghurt and a piece of fruit eaten in the car on the way to bowling.

Instead of sweet potato fries with aioli (or potatoes with the skin left on) we make fries at home, cooked using real potatoes from scratch which we boil first then bake or fry to make them super crispy.

These guys get it (and have given me a few lols along the way).
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I recently introduced my children to fries with salt and white vinegar like we used to get from those old-fashioned takeaways that were on every street corner when we were young.

Food has become way too complicated. There are too many varieties of everything and way too much information about the dos and don’ts of feeding kids. At the end of the day we just have to feed our kids a reasonably balanced diet and use foods they enjoy and don’t have to force themselves to eat.

I want my children to have a good relationship with food. My motto has always been, “There are no bad foods, just bad amounts,” so while we might have the occasional serve of Fairy Bread our usual choices are much more substantial.

I could really smash a chicken salad sandwich (with beetroot) on Wonder White Wonder Smooth Wholegrain right now.

Rediscover the simple joy of simple food. Your children are the perfect people to guide you through this. Just shake the image of those hipster dudes and dudettes out of your head. The rest of us are just happy to eat deliciously simple, uncomplicated food free of moral judgement and ethics.

How do you harken back to the days of simple, good food?