Foods That Start With Z: A Kid-Friendly List

The easiest foods that start with Z for kids are zucchini, ziti (and baked ziti), zucchini bread, zoodles and zwieback. For a longer list, real Z foods also include Zante currants, squash blossoms (zucchini flowers), za’atar, zest, zaru soba, zander, Zamorano cheese, zongzi, zrazy, zarzuela, zeppole, zabaglione and zuppa inglese. Z is the letter everyone dreads for letter-of-the-week, and it turns out to have a full dinner, a lunchbox and a dessert in it.

Everything below is a real food with a short line on what it is, grouped so a child hunting for “a Z fruit” or “a Z dinner” can find one fast.

Z fruits and vegetables

Zucchini — A summer squash picked while its seeds and skin are still soft enough to eat. In Britain and France it’s called a courgette. Botanically it’s a fruit, so it can answer either question.
Squash blossoms — The edible flowers of squash plants, particularly the species that gives us zucchini, marrow and spaghetti squash.
Zante currants — Small, sweet, seedless raisins made from a grape called Black Corinth. Despite the name, they’re not related to blackcurrants or redcurrants, which grow on bushes.

Z herbs and flavorings

Za’atar — A Middle Eastern blend of dried herbs, toasted sesame seeds, sumac and salt. The word is also the name of the wild herbs it’s made from. Lovely mixed with olive oil and brushed on flatbread.
Zest — Scraped or grated from the rind of citrus fruit such as lemon, orange or lime. It counts as a Z food if your child helps grate it into a cake.

Z pasta, noodles and breads

Ziti — A long, tube-shaped pasta from Sicily. The star of the best Z dinner on this list.
Zaru soba — Chilled Japanese buckwheat noodles served on a bamboo tray called a zaru and topped with shredded nori seaweed.
Zwieback — A crisp, slightly sweet German bread that is baked twice, like a rusk. It’s often given to teething babies and to people recovering from an upset stomach.

Z proteins and dairy

Zander — A European fish, also called pikeperch. It has firm, mild white meat with few bones, and is one of Europe’s prized food fish.
Zamorano — A hard Spanish cheese made from sheep’s milk in the province of Zamora and aged for about six months. Its rind is rubbed with olive oil, which turns it dark.

Z dishes

Baked ziti — An Italian-American baked pasta casserole of ziti, meat sauce and béchamel, topped with cheese. Make it ahead, reheat it, feed everyone.
Zoodles — Zucchini cut into long noodle shapes with a spiralizer. Kids who won’t eat zucchini will sometimes eat it as “noodles.”
Zucchini bread — A quick bread made with grated raw zucchini, flour and spices. The easiest way to hide a vegetable in a lunchbox.
Zongzi — A Chinese dish of sticky glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves around a filling. Sweet versions use red bean paste; savory ones use pork belly or Chinese sausage.
Zrazy — A meat roulade (meat rolled around a filling), popular in Poland, western Belarus and Lithuania.
Zarzuela — A Spanish fish stew, in the same family as French bouillabaisse.

Z sweets

Zeppole — Italian doughnuts: deep-fried balls of dough, traditionally eaten on St. Joseph’s Day, March 19.
Zabaglione — An Italian dessert of egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine, whipped into a light, airy custard. A grown-up one, because of the wine.
Zuppa inglese — An Italian dessert of custard layered with sponge cake dipped in liqueur, possibly descended from English trifle. Also one for the adults.

Which Z foods work for small children?

The toddler shortlist is good: zucchini (cooked soft), zoodles, baked ziti, zucchini bread and plain ziti with butter. Zwieback works too, as long as someone stays with them while they gnaw.

A few need care. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ choking prevention guidance recommends cutting food for young children into pieces no larger than half an inch, and lists chunks of cheese and raw vegetables among the foods to change or avoid until about age four. So zucchini gets cooked rather than served in raw sticks, Zamorano is grated over pasta rather than cubed, and fish is flaked and checked for bones. Zante currants are small enough that we bake them into something rather than hand over a pile. Zabaglione and zuppa inglese are made with wine or liqueur, so skip them for kids.

A Z lunchbox for letter-of-the-week

Cold baked ziti in a small container. It’s good cold, and a leftover dinner is the easiest Z main there is.
A thick slice of zucchini bread, which comes home eaten more reliably than anything else on this list.
A handful of Zante currants stirred into yogurt, for a child old enough to manage them.

For more ideas that pack well, see our back-to-school lunch ideas. Z finishes the alphabet’s tricky end; if you’re working through the other hard letters, foods that start with X and foods that start with Q are ready too.

FAQ

What is a fruit that starts with Z?

Zucchini is technically a fruit, since it grows from the flower and holds the seeds. Zante currants — small dried grapes — are the other everyday answer.

What is a vegetable that starts with Z?

Zucchini, which cooks call a vegetable, plus squash blossoms, the zucchini plant’s edible flowers.

What is a snack that starts with Z?

A slice of zucchini bread, a piece of zwieback, or flatbread brushed with za’atar and olive oil.

What dinner starts with Z?

Baked ziti is the classic family Z dinner. Zoodles with meatballs, zrazy and zongzi are the others.

What dessert starts with Z?

Zeppole (Italian doughnuts) are the kid-friendly one. Zabaglione and zuppa inglese contain alcohol, so they’re for adults.