how do I give my lad a taste for veggies?

[inishindie]

Hi

It's probably an age old question, but how do I get my lad to eat more greens without giving him an eating disorder!!

Even through pregnancy my partner couldn't eat green as it upset her and him too. Recent reports claim that if you feed yourself with lots of veggies when pregnant you give your child a taste for bitter food. It's a bit late for that now as he is ten !!

He does eat a bit of home grown broccoli and beans but very little else. I don't want to turn this into a mountain but I do feel that I need to increase his intake. Has anyone any ideas please?

Cheers

http://inishindie.blogspot.com/

[red]

i would just offer him the veg and fruit he does like and not stress over it too much - you can do more harm then good

My mum used to do things like letting us eat our veg raw if we preferred it that way etc and I thought everyone ate a bowl of frozen peas as a treat!

I use veg inside cooking at lot, where the individual taste does not need to come out alot.. eg casseroles, spag bol, etc.

does the veg *have* to be green? thinks like pumpkin are packed full of goodies...

[hamster]

I don't have children, but when I was young I didn't like any vegetables except for carrots. I'm convinced that my mum making a huge thing over it for years made it worse, as I got quite defensive about it. Also, I was brought up on boiled vegetables and never had them any other way (except roast potatoes), so we got set in this pattern: 'this is what vegetables always look like, eat them', 'I don't like them, I know I don't like them, why should I eat them?' Maybe a bit more variety would have helped.

If it's any consolation I am now a supreme vegetable enthusiast, so all is not lost!

There's a blog on a similar topic that I read. The mother goes through all the vegetables she can find, from A to Z and experiments with different ways of cooking them to find something her son likes. I think the first breakthrough was with chocolate and beetroot cake, but, you know, little steps! Perhaps the approach of shaking up the routine and involving her son worked?

[hamster]

Here it is!!

http://www.greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/

[QuakerBear]

Have a look in your local childrens library at the kids cook books. They've got loads of really fun ideas and recipies. You could serve him mouse baked potatoes and creepy crawly soup or he could help you make them!

There's been an explosion of good quality, imaginative and exciting kids cook books lately, it's well worth a look.

[mrsflibble]

when i met my hubby he didnt eat any veg except peas. now he's a veggie enthusiast too! I started off by letting him know that things can taste different if they're cooked a different way, like hamster he'd only ever had overcooked, boiled veg. also, taking loads of different veg and whizzing into a pasta sauce helped too. i just made the lumps gradually bigger and bigger until he was eating pasta sauce with big chunks of veg in it. he still doesn't like corguette 'cos of the texture, but he's more willing to try things now if i suggest them. I know, sounds like i was feeding a toddler now a 24 year old
Now if i forget to stick something green on the plate he complains!! he even makes his own vegetable chilli which we all love.

[farmerdrea]

You might just try simmering veggies whose flavours compliment each other (most of them , really) in a veggie or chicken broth (or even eater), till soft enough to puree, and then had a handful of cheddar type cheese and stir till its melted in. Lovely, and then they don't even know they're eating vege.

My daughter, who wasn't big on vege when she was small (she's 11 now, and loves growing her own and eating nearly everything put in front of her, which includes heaps of veggies) loved my "creamed" soups.

Cheers
Andrea

[Chickenlady]

I am convinced that if kids are repeatedly offered foods from a young age in a matter of fact way, and they see the adults around them enjoying these foods, they will start to eat them. However, as your son is 10, it might be too late for this approach.

How about getting him involved in growing some veg? If he sows the seeds, waters the plants, takes an interest generally and then picks them he might actually want to eat them. Worth a try anyway. Or maybe you could get him cooking?

I would agree that pressure is not helpful, though.

[Peggy Sue]

Well this worked on a grown man that wouldn't eat veg. I cooked a dish of sliced sweet potatoes and sliced tomatoes cooked in the oven in a bit of stock with cheese sprinkle on top. I think he picked out the tomatoes but sweet potatoes he had to confess were yummy!

[Thomzo]

My Grandmother always insisted that I put a little bit of each food off my plate onto my fork. That way each mouthful contains some of each food. The taste of foods you don't like so much are "diluted" by the foods that you do like.

I suggest you get your son to do this. If you make sure there is more food that your son likes than dislikes at each meal then this will be easier for him. Gradually he should get used to the veggies.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

I did the casseroles, soups, stews, pies route - and the growing your own stuff too
but getting them paired off with vegetarians seemed to work best (you have to wait till they're of age for that though)
good luck



ah nearly forgot there - always put a little of whatever veg you've cooked on his plate (perhaps mentioning casually that when you're not a 'child' any more you will enjoy your veg - as babies often don't like "<insert name of vege here>") - sneaky I know but has been known to work

[florence]

My toddler and 10month-old loved their 'orange chips' this week - simply cut sweet potato into long chip-shaped strips and roasted them (about 15 mins, much quicker than potatoes).

I appreciate that my children are a lot younger than your 10-year old but i, too, often struggle to get my toddler to eat healthily...if he had it his way he would live off twiglets, biscuits and chocolate!

Does your son like cheese? I use it all the time as a wonderful way of getting my little ones to eat their veg:

I have made home-made 'pizza' a few times for them: whizzing up some tomatoes with mushrooms or courgettes, then spooning it onto some shapes cut out of bread with cookie cutters (stars/heart/tiggers! etc) which I have pre-toasted (roasted?) in the oven for 5 mins, brushed with a little olive oil. Add a good sprinkling of grated cheese or a knob of mozzarella, and back in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Yummy! And with hidden goodness.

I also discovered a great idea recently for Cheesy Carrots on toast: take a look at http://www.rivernene.co.uk/recipes/reci ... 52&catid=4

And as someone who thinks back to the dreaded 'school dinners' when presented with cabbage, this one is fantastic! http://www.rivernene.co.uk/recipes/reci ... 76&catid=3

As you can see, they all involve cheese. I think it is such a strong-flavoured ingredient that it successfully tackles head-on, and often envelopes, the tastes of scarier veg.

Good luck!

[florence]

Here it is!!

http://www.greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/

What a FANTASTIC website! Thanks, Hamster, for this. I am inspired!

[maggienetball]

I used to cook "trendy" foods when my kids were impressionable teens. For instance, mexican veggie burgers with salsa and nachos, or chicken fajitas with 3 colour peppers, onions and salsa. They thought this was "cool" and ate enthusiastically.

I also did little things like always putting salad in their sandwiches and pureeing lots of veg into the soup.

However, I think I was lucky because my kids always tried what I put infront of them.

I think we give our kids too much choice nowadays. When I was young I got my dinner put infront of me and I could eat it or not - my choice. But there was no alternative meal if I didn't like it. Fruit was my filler, not sweets. To be fair, I was never given food I hated twice. But I wasn't consulted over what I wanted for dinner. Life was simpler then!
I brought my kids up in a similar way. If they didn't eat their dinner, they got fruit and nothing else. But mine nearly always ate their dinners. When they were teens, I used the "trendy" method above to keep them out of the burger shops.

I know I'm old fashioned, but I really believe it works. What about the rest of you?

[Annpan]

I am trying that (offered food - eat it or don't) with my DD - 15months... it is yet to have an effect... she does go through phases where she'll eat loads of fruit or a specific veg, I just try to offer her enough different things through the day to keep her tastebuds active.

When I was young... I had the same food put down infront of me meal after meal. ie. I didn't eat cornbeef hash for dinner, the same plate was put infront of me for breakfast and lunch, until I ate it
I swear I was not brought up in a dickensean (sp?) workhouse
That was just the loving and caring way I was raised.