Learning to like raw veggies?
JillianRumrill
Posts: 335 Member
I want to train myself to enjoy eating raw veggies. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The reason I want to do this is because I want to eat food that's convenient and healthy. I already like cooked veggies...like carrots, celery, and sweet peppers...but I don't like them raw. HELP!
The reason I want to do this is because I want to eat food that's convenient and healthy. I already like cooked veggies...like carrots, celery, and sweet peppers...but I don't like them raw. HELP!
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Replies
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I think this is one of those, if you're hungry enough you'll eat it deals. I only appreciate a few different vegetables when I am well and truly hungry. I don't know that you can train yourself to appreciate something your tastebuds aren't crazy about, but my suggestion would be to just eat the carrots, celery, whatever, if you're hell bent on it, and make it a habit.0
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You learn to like new things with time and repeated exposure, an open mind and going out of your comfort zone without forcing yourself until you puke. It may also be easier if the new behavior has practical benefits, like convenience.
See if you can expand on things you're already doing or have done before. Do you eat salads? That's raw vegetables. Did you grow up snacking on carrots, or ants on a log? Pair raw vegetables with things you like. Hummus is popular, and dips made with sour cream/yogurt/cream cheese. Vegetables that are suited to eat raw, include peppers, cucumber, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, beets, sugar snap peas.3 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
Cauliflower has such a neutral taste to me, I think it would be pretty easy to eat raw without dips and such. Once you got used to cauliflower, work on broccoli....a stronger flavor, but in the same family.
Jicama - have you ever tried this? Nice peppery flavor. Great in salads.
Slaws - look for those with light dressings. Asian coleslaw. Jicama - Green Apple salad. Sweet & sour coleslaw (use Splenda).
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.0 -
Put some in your purse or bring them to work. Try a variety of different ones. And then when hungry or in a mood for a snack, eat them. Think positive things about them and try to look forward to them. Try adding a bit of salt.
You may develop a taste for them, usually it depends on exposure.
Consider bringing along a dip like hummus or baba ganoush if you can put them in an office refrigerator or are snacking at home.
Also, eat them raw in other forms, like on a salad. Many of the vegetables I like on their own raw I also eat on salads. Remember a salad need not be lettuce-based, as there are tomato salads and cucumber salads that often are made without any greens, for just a couple of examples. Cole slaw is based on raw cabbage and other veg, make your dressing very light or vinegar based as a way of getting used to them.
Kohlrabi is really good raw, and so is jicama.0 -
One trick I've learned is that sometimes texture is a game changer. Try spiralizing things like cucumber, beet, turnip, jicima amd carrot. Cabbage is amazing when shredded really fine. When veggies are cut this way they hold a low fat dressing better. Choppiing cauliflower really fine can replace rice but it isn't starchy like rice. I've used it and it's not bad. The hungrier you are the better, lol.1
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Not a big fan of most raw veggies..the only ones I eat are cucumber, snap peas, and carrots really...or like red onion and bell pepper on a salad.
My healthy convenient foods are typically nuts, fruit, and jerky.1 -
cucumbers are great when soaked in vinegar - sometimes I even add salt ! Bell peppers are easy on their own, if you like dipping in dressings, walden farms (found at walmart) has a line of products that are sugar free - just don't go crazy, and you have to be ok with the taste of sucralose ... HUMMUS is a great way to enjoy raw veggies as well !1
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Broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower can be blanched for just a few seconds in boiling water. Might help with the transition to raw.0
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There's a book I recently heard about:
First bites: how we learn to eat by Bee Wilson.
I haven't read it myself, but I heard her talk about her research into changing food preferences in children and adults. I believe she gives actual techniques to try. Might also be interesting to parents of small children.0 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
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Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.1 -
khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb2 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
A brief-if-hilarious tutorial on all things enjellificated:
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/jello/index.html
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knox/index.html
ETA money quote: "Here's Mrs. Dewey again, giving the girls a taste of the newest, most up-to-date salad idea: Not Salad! At least not as it's commonly understood these days. Salad, as most people grasp the concept, is not a coherent mass with a certain structural integrety. But as you'll see, salad was re-imagined beyond the wildest dreams of the smart set. You'll note how they're all looking at her with a sense of happy expectation, but she seems a bit hesitant: no, dears, this is the salad I was talking about. The Jell-O. There's not another salad coming later. This is it."1 -
khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
2 -
JillianRumrill wrote: »I want to train myself to enjoy eating raw veggies. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The reason I want to do this is because I want to eat food that's convenient and healthy. I already like cooked veggies...like carrots, celery, and sweet peppers...but I don't like them raw. HELP!
I've slowly trained myself to like raw veggies. Of course they still don't taste as good as potato chips. But I now enjoy snacking on fresh raw veggies like broccoli, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, carrots, etc.
It's convenient and easy to buy those bags of pre-washed veggies at the grocery store. I have a long commute so I just open up a bag and slowly snack on it as I drive to work. At first I thought it was fairly gross, but after doing it for awhile I stopped minding the taste and texture. Then eventually I started to actually like them (assuming they're fresh). Just be aware that the sell-by dates on those veggies bags are usually exagerated. The veggies get pretty gross well before the sell-by date.0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
I've seen the old timey "recipes" on gag sites but I didn't think anyone actually ATE the stuff LMAO0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
I've seen the old timey "recipes" on gag sites but I didn't think anyone actually ATE the stuff LMAO
Just for laughs, I actually made a jello that had mayo, cucumber, pineapple, and lime jello.. it was actually amazing and now I crave it.
1 -
Sunnybrooke99 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
I've seen the old timey "recipes" on gag sites but I didn't think anyone actually ATE the stuff LMAO
Just for laughs, I actually made a jello that had mayo, cucumber, pineapple, and lime jello.. it was actually amazing and now I crave it.
*gasp*
0 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
My grandma always served us orange jello with shredded carrots in it.0 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
Rosy Perfection Salad, anyone?
0 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
Rosy Perfection Salad, anyone?
Oh.
My.
Gawd.
You're killing me smalls.1 -
Actually, the only raw veggies I eat are salad greens and cucumbers, tomatoes on sandwiches, and whatever is in those delicious fresh Thai spring rolls. I prefer my veggies steamed or roasted, as a rule.0
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magster4isu wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
My grandma always served us orange jello with shredded carrots in it.
Ditto, also my mom on occasion. Midwest / Wisconsin thing? Not sure.2 -
I got my kids to eat vegetables with dips. Their favorite is Greek yogurt mixed with Hidden Valley ranch dip mix.
They only like raw veggies and hate cooked. Same for my husband, pretty much.0 -
magster4isu wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
My grandma always served us orange jello with shredded carrots in it.
Ditto, also my mom on occasion. Midwest / Wisconsin thing? Not sure.
I've had things like this at church carry-in dinners back in the 70s and 80s. Especially with the orange, and say, the pineapple and mandarin oranges, it's not the most terrible thing, assuming you like orange jello in the first place. And I don't think the amount of shredded carrot or whatnot counts as an actual veg. I love flipping through old cookbooks and marveling at all the crazy jello recipes. I think it stems from, in the Victorian era, aspics and such were very hoity-toity, which of course trickled down to the middle class; combine the reputation of fanciness with the wonders of modern food chemistry (every mom a scientist!) and...ya get jello salad!
For the Thanksgiving dinner that my MIL makes, it's like the food is sacrosanct, and not a single thing has changed since 1952. She is the best cook non-professional cook I know, does everything to 100% perfection, and the dinner is delicious, but it does involve a jello cranberry salad, and an orange jello ring with mandarin oranges and cream cheese balls rolled in nuts. I like both. Also, church potatoes (made with Cream of Mushroom) and green bean casserole (made with Cream of Mushroom). I don't really have a niche at this dinner; but I bring roasted root veg or roasted sprouts or some such drizzled with a vinaigrette anyway. Maybe one of these years I will be entrusted with the green bean casserole.
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Sunnybrooke99 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
I've seen the old timey "recipes" on gag sites but I didn't think anyone actually ATE the stuff LMAO
Just for laughs, I actually made a jello that had mayo, cucumber, pineapple, and lime jello.. it was actually amazing and now I crave it.
Mayo and jello
1 -
JillianRumrill wrote: »I want to train myself to enjoy eating raw veggies. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The reason I want to do this is because I want to eat food that's convenient and healthy. I already like cooked veggies...like carrots, celery, and sweet peppers...but I don't like them raw. HELP!
I'm not the biggest fan of raw vegetables besides carrots, tomatoes and broccoli. Is there a reason you want to make yourself like them raw if you can just steam them or pre-prep them and have the cooked variation on hand?0 -
Sunnybrooke99 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »khaleesikhaleesi wrote: »Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
THIS WAS TOTALLY A THING BACK IN THE DAY! I think especially in the 50's-70's: Parents made their kids all kinds of things in jello.
So true!
@aeloine you can find old time recipes for Jello aspic (tomato juice & lemon jello)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/17-horrifyingly-disgusting-retro-gelatin-recipes?utm_term=.ygMnrqdmd#.kvDv72bjb
"Cucumber, celery, and lime Jello; one of these things is not like the other."
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
I've seen the old timey "recipes" on gag sites but I didn't think anyone actually ATE the stuff LMAO
Just for laughs, I actually made a jello that had mayo, cucumber, pineapple, and lime jello.. it was actually amazing and now I crave it.
Mayo and jello
Oh, I know. I literally picked it bc it looked like one of the weirdest in the book (other than encased tuna salads and such). I was shocked that it was good.0 -
Snap peas are by far my favorite raw veggie.
.......
A bit of a stretch - but I grew up eating green jello with an assortment of chopped veggies. Celery, cabbage and shredded carrot. Orange jello with shredded carrot & crushed pineapple.
(More) convenient cooked veggies? I bring fresh green beans to work and steam them 3.5 minutes in a ZipLock Zip-N steam or Glad-Simply Cooking bag.....rinse and reuse.
wat?
Jell-O with vegetables? Carrots and pineapple??? Are we not going to talk about this?
Honey, we don't want to talk about it. Those of us who lived it are still trying to forget.0 -
For the original OP question (although the jello discussion is hilarious!) -
If you want to train yourself to like veggies, I'd say first thing to do is figure out why you don't already.
Is it the taste? The texture? Something else? If it is ANYTHING other than 'I never really eat it raw so I am not used to the taste and texture,' then you are likely going to fail 'training' yourself to like them, IMHO. Because the fact is...you like veggies. You just don't like them raw. And there is nothing WRONG with that. It's a preference, not a sin, you know?
And sometimes, that is not just something we can make go away with more exposure. I dislike almost all veggies, and most fruit. Always have, had to eat them anyway, ate a ton of them, STILL dislike them. I have tried them seven ways from Sunday, and it doesn't matter; still bad. However, I have found ways to make sure I EAT them, anyway.
And mostly, I did what I mentioned above: looked at why I hated them, and then, I found ways to alter what I didn't like. Like, if it's the taste, having dipping sauces may help. if it's the texture, making tinier pieces or slices, or pounding them flat, or mixing them with other things that help mask the texture may help.
And I would also consider the possibility that there may be a reason you don't like raw veggies that goes beyond simply 'not liking.'
I've met a number of people now who found out they have OAS (oral allergy syndrome) where they have a small reaction on oral contact with many raw veggies or fruits, but that cooking denatures the proteins enough so that they can eat them just fine. Many of these folks grew up just thinking didn't like raw veggies, and found out that it was more than that when they started eating raw veggies more and weren't feeling so great.
I've also met a few who don't seem to digest raw veggies real well, and so they would have these really low level stomach aches they never really even registered consciously, that would put them off the raw veggies. But they'd try to 'get healthy' and add a bunch of veggies in, and then start REALLY not feeling great, and finally figured it out.
I just mention these for if you do start eating more raw veggies and something is weird as a result, you know?
1
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