Families have different cultural norms when it comes to raising kids. New parents usually mimic whatever they grew up doing when they have their own children. That goes for night rituals, feeding children, and disciplining them, too. Sometimes, other people may not understand these cultural traditions because they didn’t grow up that way themselves.
It’s not uncommon for young children to eat a range of different foods when their parents grew up outside of North America.
Whatever the parents are accustomed to cooking and making is usually what their children are eating, too. And, in some cases, these foods may have extra spices that aren’t found in typical North American baby foods.
Recently, one TikTok user received a lot of backlash for the way she feeds her 13-month-old daughter.
Graca Walters is a stay-at-home mom who grew up in Congo. Her cooking style is mostly African and Caribbean-inspired food, just like she grew up having.
Like a lot of parents, Graca uses TikTok to share videos about her life as a mom.
Her videos’ topics range from quick parenting and cleaning hacks to playing with her daughter. And, of course, Graca also uses the platform to show off her love of cooking traditional foods.
The 31-year-old mom said that the foods remind her of her childhood.
“Where I come from we don’t have baby food in containers and jars,” Graca told The Today Show . Instead of feeding her 13-month-old daughter, Zuri, baby food, Graca cooks for her like her own family did when she was an infant.
She feeds Zuri just like her mother fed her.
“I’m giving Zuri what my mother gave me. She likes curry. She likes lamb. She likes Jamaican food, too,” the mother said.
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Her daughter seems to love the food she cooks, too!
From curry-flavored chicken and rice to breakfast with eggs and sausages, Zuri is well-fed and the mother said her daughter “loves” her cooking.
Graca’s videos quickly gained a lot of attention on the platform.
Many people loved her videos which showed her making traditional dishes like jerk oxtail, rice, beans, and curry. Her videos have garnered 9.7 million likes on the platform alone.
In addition to TikTok, Graca also has a YouTube channel called Texy Kitchen where she even shows how to make some of her favorite dishes.
But, when Graca began sharing her cooking videos on TikTok and YouTube, she also received a ton of hate.
Many people claimed that Graca was “feeding her daughter wrong.” Some people said that it’s not good to feed babies all of those spices. One person even called the food “crap.”
Some people were so rude in comments, they even threatened to call Child Protective Services on Graca.
One person said that “curry” is not for children and due to the spices, they would call CPS on Graca. That’s just taking it to an entirely new level of trolling and mom-shaming.
Graca, of course, was shocked.
She never thought that her videos of cooking would receive so much hate and backlash. She didn’t think that she was doing anything wrong.
And, medical professionals agree with Graca.
Dr. Tobi Amosun, a childcare professional, said Graca is following the recommendations for feeding her daughter.
“The only food I limit before a child is a year old is honey because of botulism, and milk because they don’t need it. I don’t give kids food restrictions after a year as long as they don’t have food allergies,” the doctor said in an interview with The Today Show .
Unfortunately, many of the hurtful comments directed at Graca were rooted in racisim.
As with all the other trolls, Graca responded to these comments with even more videos on TikTok that proudly showed off more of her African cooking.
It didn’t take long for Graca’s story to go viral.
Her response to the haters who have criticized her cooking and parenting caught the eyes of major outlets like The Today Show , Good Morning America , and publications like Parents Magazine .
She has also received a lot of support from people online who have encouraged her to keep cooking.
Despite the threats and attempts to shame her, Graca shows no signs of letting the haters bring her down.
She continues to post videos of her traditional cooking. Since speaking out against the threats she received, her TikTok account has grown to nearly 300,000 followers.
h/t The Today Show
