Grace Walters grew up in the Congo prior to moving to New York — so when she began cooking for her 13-month-old daughter, Zuri, she decided to make her African and Caribbean-inspired recipes she loved as a child.
But when the mom, 31, shared her cooking roots to TikTok, she received an overwhelming amount of backlash for feeding her daughter the home-cooked meals from the heart.
And while the criticism continues to mount online, she is speaking out to raise awareness about those who harshly judge other cultures.
Walters is a stay-at-home mom to 13-month-old Zuri and regularly shares parenting tips as well as cooking and cleaning tutorials on her TikTok page. She receives a lot of criticism for what she prepares.
“Where I come from we don’t have baby food in containers and jars,” the mom, who goes by @Texykitchen1 on TikTok shared with Today.
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“I’m giving Zuri what my mother gave me,” she went on. “She likes curry. She likes lamb. She likes Jamaican food too.”
“It hurt my feelings a lot in the beginning,” Walters admitted to Today. She urges how she is “not doing anything wrong.”
Today spoke with Dr. Tobi Amosun and she couldn’t agree with Walters more.
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Amosun, A primary care pediatrician and medical director in Nashville, Tennessee, reveals how she limits a child’s dietary options.
“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,” she said.
“I don’t give kids food restrictions after a year as long as they don’t have food allergies,” she added.