Enemy vegetable
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- April
- 8
It seems a long time ago, but when my oldest son was going through his “I hate vegetables” phase, my husband decided to allow him one enemy vegetable. It’s good to give in once in a while, he said.
That is, until Billi decided he would change his enemy vegetable every day, depending on what was on the menu.
His aversion to vegetables changed when we started going to a Chinese restaurant in our neighborhood. The menu included a broccoli appetizer that had sauteed garlic sprinkled over it. Boy! Did he inhale that plate! Soon it was a staple when we ate at the resturant, along with Peking Duck.
Billi’s appetite for vegetables changed after that. His favorites are now spinach sauteed with garlic and dried red chilli peppers, grilled zucchini, and green peas with cilantro and ginger, all of which I happily cook at home.
That makes me wonder if our kids don’t like vegetables because we present them in such an uninteresting way. My theory is that in the West vegetables are an afterthought; something we throw in after we’ve decided what the main menu is. We eat it because its good for us. As adults we understand that, but do kids?
In many eastern cultures, vegetables are a big part of the diet. In India, where I come from, many people are vegetarians and therefore work to make vegetables interesting. We should, too. Maybe kids will then eat vegetables.
Wishful thinking, you say? Give it a try.
Photo by Carucha L. Meuse / The Journal News / LoHud.com
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm by Hema Easley.
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I know that when I was growing up, I had no problem eating any vegetable that my mom placed in front of me. They all tasted delicious. But now, at college, I rarely eat any vegetable just because the flavoring sucks. They are bland. A lot of people that I`ve talked to that don’t eat vegetables say that they don’t like how it tastes. Black eyed peas, for example. Most everyone I’ve talked to say they taste like dirt. But their parents only cooked them. They never added seasoning meat or pepper flakes to the peas, like my mom did. I think that kids have a more advanced taste for flavors than most give them credit for.