Foods That Start With U: A Kid-Friendly List

The easiest foods that start with U for kids are udon noodles, upside-down cake, ube (purple yam, often in ice cream and desserts) and ugli fruit, a Jamaican citrus that tastes like a sweet grapefruit. Beyond those, real U foods include umeboshi, umbu, ulluco, urad dal, upma, uttapam, ugali, uszka, unagi and Urfa pepper. Most of the list comes from other cuisines, which makes U a good letter for a week of trying something new rather than a hard one.

Every food below is real and findable, and each one comes with a short line on what it is, so you can explain it to a five-year-old or a teacher.

U fruits

Ugli fruit — A citrus fruit from Jamaica, also called the Jamaican tangelo. It arose as a natural cross between a tangerine or orange and a grapefruit. “Ugli” and “Uniq” are brand names it’s sold under, so the name you see in the store may vary.
Umbu — Also called the Brazil plum (Spondias tuberosa). A small round fruit, light yellow to red, from the dry scrublands of northeast Brazil. Hard to find outside Brazil, but a real U fruit.
Ume — The East Asian fruit usually called a “plum,” though it’s more closely related to the apricot. It’s pickled into umeboshi (below) in Japan and made into plum syrups and drinks in Korea and Japan.

U vegetables and legumes

Ube — A purple yam (Dioscorea alata), with flesh that runs from violet-purple to lavender. It’s most common in Filipino cooking, where it goes into cakes, jam, ice cream and a sweet paste called ube halayá, and it has reached the US mostly through those desserts. The taste is mildly sweet and nutty, and kids tend to love the color before they’ve tasted it.
Ulluco — An Andean root vegetable, grown in South America for its small, colorful tubers and also its leaves. The name comes from the Quechua ulluku.
Urad dal — Split black gram, a bean grown in South Asia. Whole, it’s black; split and skinned, it’s creamy white and sometimes sold as “white lentil.” It’s a key ingredient in dosa and idli batter.

U dishes

Udon — Thick Japanese noodles made from wheat flour. The simplest version is kake udon, served in a mild broth. The noodle most likely to win over a picky eater on this list.
Upma — A thick, savory porridge from southern India, made from dry-roasted semolina or coarse rice flour and seasoned. A good warm breakfast for a child who likes cream of wheat.
Uttapam — A South Indian dish in the dosa family. Where a dosa is thin and crisp, an uttapam is thick and soft, with toppings cooked into the surface. Think savory pancake.
Ugali — A stiff maize-meal porridge eaten across much of East and Southern Africa, from Kenya and Tanzania to Zambia and Zimbabwe, where it goes by names like nsima, pap and sadza. The traditional way to eat it is to roll a lump into a ball with your hand and use it to scoop up stew or vegetables.
Uszka — Small Polish dumplings, usually filled with wild mushrooms or minced meat and served in beet borscht. The mushroom version is traditional on Christmas Eve in Poland. The name means “little ears.”
Unagi — The Japanese word for freshwater eel, most often cooked as kabayaki (grilled and glazed) and served over rice as unadon.
Umeboshi — Pickled ume fruit from Japan, extremely sour and salty. Eaten in small amounts with rice and a common filling for onigiri rice balls — often with the pit still in, so check before handing one to a child. One tiny taste is usually enough for a child — and most adults.

U treats and flavors

Upside-down cake — A cake baked with fruit, butter and sugar on the bottom of the pan, then turned out so the fruit is on top. American pineapple upside-down cake is the classic; apples, cherries and peaches work too.
Urfa pepper — A Turkish chili flake (Urfa biber) from the Urfa region, dark maroon, described as smoky and raisin-like. Still a chili, so go gently for kids.

Which U foods will kids actually eat?

On an ordinary grocery run you can find udon, urad dal (Indian grocers and many supermarkets), ube in ice cream or jam, and, in season, ugli fruit. Upside-down cake you can bake. That’s five, which is plenty for a letter-of-the-week plate.

A few practical notes for small children. Udon is long and slippery, so cut it into short lengths for a toddler. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ choking prevention guidance suggests pieces no larger than half an inch for young children, and says children should sit down to eat rather than eat on the move. Cut ugli fruit segments small for under-fours, as you would an orange.

A U plate for letter-of-the-week

Here’s a plate we’d actually send, built from things one normal shop can supply:

A small bowl of udon tossed in a little soy sauce and butter, cut short.
Ugli fruit segments (or, out of season, a scoop of ube ice cream for a treat day).
A square of pineapple upside-down cake, or a wedge of uttapam for a savory option.

If the class is doing the whole alphabet, the hard letters have their own lists: foods that start with X and foods that start with J. And for the ordinary lunchbox days in between, our toddler lunch ideas are built to come home eaten.

FAQ

What is a fruit that starts with U?

Ugli fruit, a Jamaican citrus that is a natural cross of a tangerine or orange with a grapefruit, is the easiest to find. Umbu, the Brazil plum, and ume, the Japanese fruit used for umeboshi, are real U fruits too.

What is a vegetable that starts with U?

Ube, the purple yam, is the best-known. Ulluco, an Andean root vegetable, and urad dal, a split black bean from South Asia, also count.

What food starts with U for preschoolers?

Udon noodles and upside-down cake are the two most kids will eat without persuasion. Ube ice cream wins on color alone.

Is ube the same as taro?

No. Ube is a purple yam, Dioscorea alata. It’s often confused with taro and with purple sweet potatoes, but it’s a different plant from both.

What is a snack that starts with U?

A few segments of ugli fruit, a small slice of upside-down cake, or a spoonful of ube jam on toast.