Kids Cuisine

Like most other parents, I struggle from time to time with my children and vegetables.  While there is that part of me that realizes their palates are still growing and learning, there is also that part of me that wants them to enjoy everything they eat right away.  As we’ve been enjoying our own home-grown produce lately, that desire grows even deeper.  Why on earth wouldn’t my children want to devour a bowl of garlic-wilted rainbow chard, or a bowl of kale and white bean stew?  Unfortunately, my ideas of my children experiencing ecstasy over mere garden produce may be a bit optimistic.

Yet, they’re trying.  I have to give them kudos for that, they are always willing to give each vegetable a try.  The other day as I snipped jumbo kale leaves to blanch and freeze, my daughter watched carefully before asking how it tasted.  I offered her a giant leaf, and she spent the next ten minutes on a swing, nibbling that kale into oblivion.  When I asked her how she enjoyed it, she told me it was “all right — kind of like cabbage.”  Every day as I walk the garden, looking for new delights, both children accompany, pointing out this and that and enjoying the entire growing process themselves. They remember those cold April days when I pressed those tomato seeds into soil, and now they’re getting their first taste of that labor.

Perhaps the biggest hit of the summer would be our pole beans.  My children love green beans fresh out of the garden.  Cook them in any way and they both turn up their noses, but freshly picked, crisp green beans will beat any bowl of ice cream, hands down. On any given day, either child can be found amongst the beans, picking and nibbling like little rabbits.  The first time I caught them doing that, I wanted to scold them — those beans had been planned for dinner!  I started out of the house to confront them on this when I caught myself and laughed at what I had almost done.  I was going to scold my children? For eating vegetables?  Every since then, we have done the exact opposite.  We grow green beans for the kids. At any time they may pick the ripened vegetables and eat them to their heart’s content. And while this year it’s the beans, maybe next year they’ll add that rainbow chard to their repertoire. 

And for those vegetables that we’re not growing in the garden, we can always rely on our local farmstands and farmer’s markets to supply us with what we want.  Sweet corn is a perennial favorite there, as are cabbage and cauliflowers.  When we walk up to a roadside stand, each child is charged with the responsibility of picking out a vegetable.  More often than not, they each end up picking two or three vegetables that they’d like to try out.  What I have noticed is that by giving my children the choice, they are much more likely to eat that vegetable.  When they know they’ve had a hand in its selection, whether it be from a store, farmer, or plucked from the earth, there is a connection to that vegetable that makes it even more appealing.   When they’ve personally chosen that carrot to be part of a meal, there is a difference from a meal that they are simply presented.  Give your children a choice — even in the bustle of a supermarket, give them the task of choosing one vegetable, and then be prepared to give that vegetable a chance yourself.  It’s totally worth it, and a lifetime of healthy eating will be well rooted from your example.