all this talk about "hiding" veggies...

Skinny_Beans

Who else here see's vegetable sand fruits as actual food?! It's just so weird that many people can't imagine vegetables outside the context of a side dish or appetizer.

michelleepotter

I see fruit and vegetables as food. My recipes are organized by the main ingredient (to make it easier for me to plan a variety of dinners for the week -- just pick one per category), and one of my categories is "vegetables." I also have another category for "beans," because I have so many recipes where beans are the main ingredient.

My mom bought me one of those cookbooks that are designed to "sneak" vegetables into your kids' food, and I don't get it. We eat fruit and/or veggies at every single meal here, and my kids have never complained. On the contrary, they ask for seconds.

SweetSammie

I find it interesting, too. Especially the trend with hiding them for their kids.... I really think if you feed your kids a variety from when they are young, they will eat a variety of foods. They may have a picky stage or two, but overall, they will eat it.

Now, I don't have kids, but I am basing that on me and my brother... my mom made all sorts of veggies - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots, peas, lima beans, squash, sweet potatoes... you get the point. As a kid I refused peas and lima beans, and that was ok - as long as I tried them a couple of times. On the days those were part of dinner, there would be another veggie as well (we normally had at least 2 at dinner). I ate everything else... but from the time we were babies we ate these things. We also ate what our parents ate as soon as we were old enough for semi-solid foods.... my mom just didn't season the veggies when she cooked them, any salt was added at the table.
I am glad that hating veggies is one nutrition obstacle I don't have.... I love them!

Ralphrabbit

Veggies are just great, good for you, full of fibre vits & a big part of my diet. Why not?!?!?
If someone was trying to make me eat junk food with all that sodium these days, now that would be a problem as I would be sick!!

steph124ny

My only picky veggie kid has autism....and that's more a texture thing. I don't hide veggies....my kids eat them because we ALL eat them...

Meg177

I agree. I have read that a plate for a human should be 60% veg, 20% protein and 20% grain. It's 20, 60, 20 for a cat and 40, 40, 20 for a dog:)

Skinny_Beans

Yeah, I grew up eating raw veggies from a garden, eating them as a snack or in pasta and pies...but vegetables are seen as the food you have to be bribed to eat, lol

andreamkelly

My grandkids go through 'phases' with vegetables. When they were toddlers, they both loved tomatoes and other vegetables. Now it is harder (ages 6 and 3) to get them to eat vegetables. But I am happy to say if you offer the 3 year old an ice cream or an apple, he will pick the apple. (The 6 year old always wants ice cream). Also for dinner, they normally ask for milk or water, instead of soda or juice.

ickybella

I freaking love vegetables. I was fed veggies as a small child, though. I don't remember any mention of "Eat your veggies or...." and then some no-dessert type of threat because veggies, along with meat, fruit, chocolate, tacos, etc... were all regarded as food. It didn't really help me to NOT become overweight but hey, at least I get plenty of fiber and vitamins.

Bagman12002

Nothing to hide the kids have had veggies since birth now they may not like something but they try it and there is another choice, but veggies and fruits are always part of the meal plan.

SweetSammie

That's why I didn't like peas and lima beans, it was the squishy texture. Now I will eat baby lima beans, only the frozen ones, lightly cooked.

I will eat fresh or frozen peas IF they are mixed in something else (like soup or pot pie).

Canned lima beans and peas are still gross to me... but I literally cannot think of another veggie I don't like. (Thanks, Mom!)

Alex_is_Hawks

I don't understand hiding vegetables either. I have never hidden vegetables in my food to encourage my daughter to eat them. My daughters Grandma (on her dad's side) ALWAYS hides vegetables under sauces, other foods, slathery things like sourcream or mayo.

My daughter will eat almost any vegetable out there, the only one she won't really eat is peppers and she's tried them over and over and still finds the taste/texture unbearable. So, I allow her that caveat, no peppers for her, but she will eat everything else and LOVES them.

Her father? He can't eat a vegetable to this day, and won't. unless it's swimming in sauce or slathery things.

So as far as I'm concerned that little experiment failed.

Ex Mother in law - 0 Me - 1

Lauren

bathsheba_c

WebMD actually had a slideshow about picky eaters. It suggested that you are better off if you offer the vegetable multiple times to the picky eater rather than hiding them. If you hide the vegetables, the kid never develops the habit of eating them. But it can take upward of a dozen times of introducing a new food before a child will actually eat it.

ShalisaClam

When I was growing up, we didn't usually have any veggies served at dinner except mashed potatoes (really?) and corn. That's what I can remember, anyway. Sometimes we had carrots. As I got older, I have tried a variety of vegetable. I love 'em. And I love to try new ones/recipes. It was the same with fruit.

I just can't seem to figure out why I've been overweight since I was a child. Hmmmmm

Martucha123

I LOVE all foods, including veggies and fruits
IMO the biggest culinary sin is putting whipped cream and sugar on strawberries
why would you like to spoil the taste of fresh delicious strawberries??
Tomorrow peas, carrots and baked cauliflower with chicken for lunch... can't wait

Skinny_Beans

I ate a lot of veggies as a kid, but over time I craved junk food, since it was sort of forbidden in my house. Now I try new foods and new veggie dishes all the time, and it's really opened up some cooking opportunities for me (once I'm able to get the groceries )

MoreBean13

I was always a veggie eater. But an interesting caveat on this subject is genetic "bitter tasters". There is an identified gene for bitter tasting, and there is a particular chemical in certain vegetables that "bitter tasters" taste, that the rest of the population, the non bitter-tasters, simply can't taste at all. Most kids that are violently opposed to vegetables have the bitter tasting gene. Interestingly enough, its not an excuse to never eat vegetables, as people with the gene can develop a tolerance for the bitter taste, and as they get older get less sensitive to it- but I just think its really interesting that most of the people that really hate veggies have a physiological reason for it!

AmyWho

I don't really understand people who don't eat vegetables. I love ALL vegetables and fruits and can't imagine a meal without them!!

Beautiful_Ideal

My family is from the Midwest and there it is very common not to think of veggies as actual food, because "you can't make the main dish of a meal out of them." Of course, from a Midwestern perspective, a real meal means meat and potatoes. And corn, when in season.

Meg_78

I love veggies, I was heavily force fed them as a child, but it meant that I grew into an adult who loves the natural taste of them, I don't feel a need to hide them or cover them or disguise them. Many of my main meals are Vegetarian. There is just so much you can do with veggies! I'm not as big a fruit fan, but I do miss veg when I don't get it regularly enough (Like when I go to my MIL for example, who's idea of veggie's is a garden salad!

Actually right now, as a gainer, my love of veggies is actually a slight curse cause they are so damn low in calories, I can't understand why many people with low calorie goals are not eating more of them!

Jennyisbusy

I do both, serve up regular veggies and mix some into foods sometimes. I am not really trying to hide them as much as I am adding a vege boost to stuff like mac and cheese which can be a little on the naughty side.

The only thing I would do differently with my kids would be to go back in time and never let them have a chicken nugget. Even though we only eat them occasionally they stay in my kids minds and it's all they can request. I don;t know if it is marketing or MSG that makes them so damn attractive to kids.

SweetSammie

My family is from the Midwest and there it is very common not to think of veggies as actual food, because "you can't make the main dish of a meal out of them." Of course, from a Midwestern perspective, a real meal means meat and potatoes. And corn, when in season.

This is interesting to me, because I am from the Midwest, too. We had meat and potatoes, for sure, but always with a couple of vegetables. And while veggie ONLY meals were almost unheard of, during the summer our dinner was a garden cornucopia... sliced tomatoes and "fresh pickles" (sliced cucumbers in vinegar, water, a little sugar and salt and pepper), sweet corn, baby carrots, green beans, turnips, summer squash. Whatever was ripe, we ate!

dvisser1

I find it interesting, too. Especially the trend with hiding them for their kids.... I really think if you feed your kids a variety from when they are young, they will eat a variety of foods. They may have a picky stage or two, but overall, they will eat it.

Now, I don't have kids, but I am basing that on me and my brother... my mom made all sorts of veggies - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots, peas, lima beans, squash, sweet potatoes... you get the point. As a kid I refused peas and lima beans, and that was ok - as long as I tried them a couple of times. On the days those were part of dinner, there would be another veggie as well (we normally had at least 2 at dinner). I ate everything else... but from the time we were babies we ate these things. We also ate what our parents ate as soon as we were old enough for semi-solid foods.... my mom just didn't season the veggies when she cooked them, any salt was added at the table.
I am glad that hating veggies is one nutrition obstacle I don't have.... I love them!

Same here. Growing up in NE Ohio we always had a garden. Very rarely did we not have at least a garden salad with dinner, often times a cooked veg dish as well. In the fall we would often go to a u-pick orchard and pick our own apples, bushels of them. The only thing I remember truly hating as a kid were cooked lima beans (but I will snarf edamame now) and hot cooked beets (cold pickled beets are great on salads now). Tastes do evolve as we age and branch out on our own. I like spicy and bitter flavor components that offset sweet and savory in many of my meals, but that was never part of what I grew up eating because my mom and dad did not like spicy and bitter foods.

When one of us kids (3 of us) got picky, my parents instituted the "no thank you helping" which was about 1/2 a normal helping. You could say I don't want it, but you still got some and had to eat it. Continued complaining at the dinner table was not tolerated (do you want a spanking with your side of lima beans?) so you quickly learned to just eat it.

Except the one time mom tried to make liver and onions. Even the dog wouldn't touch it. ughh...... :sick:

Rae6503

My kids love raw veggies. Tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, carrots. The 5 year old even likes broccoli. I don't "hide" them.

Rocbola

Who else here see's vegetable sand fruits as actual food?! It's just so weird that many people can't imagine vegetables outside the context of a side dish or appetizer.

They are the ONLY thing that i see as food. Seeds, nuts, whole grains and beans, too, but i eat them rarely.

jching29

I really abhor parents who go to great lengths to "hide" the vegetables in their kids' food. Man up and make them eat their veggies. If you prepare them well, the kids will like them, and if not, they can make their own gd meals.

The only times I approve of "hiding" veggies are when it's done alongside regular vegetable eating, such as putting grated beets into brownies. If you're eating vegetables like a person should, having an extra serving of beets will be fine, but not good or bad, it just is. If you don't eat vegetables properly, having a beet hidden inside a chocolate brownie isn't going to do anything good for you at all.

momtokgo

I find it interesting, too. Especially the trend with hiding them for their kids.... I really think if you feed your kids a variety from when they are young, they will eat a variety of foods. They may have a picky stage or two, but overall, they will eat it.

Now, I don't have kids, but I am basing that on me and my brother... my mom made all sorts of veggies - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots, peas, lima beans, squash, sweet potatoes... you get the point. As a kid I refused peas and lima beans, and that was ok - as long as I tried them a couple of times. On the days those were part of dinner, there would be another veggie as well (we normally had at least 2 at dinner). I ate everything else... but from the time we were babies we ate these things. We also ate what our parents ate as soon as we were old enough for semi-solid foods.... my mom just didn't season the veggies when she cooked them, any salt was added at the table.
I am glad that hating veggies is one nutrition obstacle I don't have.... I love them!

When and if you have kids you might feel differently. I have 3 kids. 2 will eat most veggies. One won't even look at them. We fed them the same way, we offered veggies at a young age, nothing worked. I do hide veggies on her when I can (in muffins, sauces etc) just so she gets them. We also put them on her plate at every meal with the hopes that she will try them. Never happens. She does eat a lot of fruit. It's not always black and white. They will not always eat it, no matter what you do.