We were having friends over for dinner recently and prior to them arriving my friend called me to remind me her two children don't eat vegetables. Needless to say I found this exasperating, to state that 'children' don't like vegetables is such a sweeping statement yet it's one we have come to accept. There are several theories out there as to why children don't like vegetables, but the prevailing notion is of course, that due to our highly processed diet we have become addicted to sugar, salt, fat and flavour enhancers.
Take my friend Clarrie, when she began weaning her baby she pureed all manner of vegetables for baby Todd to try. Admittedly he rejected some of the vegetables, but on the whole he ate them quite happily. Babies are weaned on bland food because mothers understand the dangers of sugar, salt, fat and additives. At what age then, one wonders, does it become acceptable to introduce sugary and salt laden cereals, fruit juices and squash, yoghurts with 10g of sugar per 100g, chicken nuggets, crisps..........?
Once introduced, these foodstuffs become addictive, we develop an instinct to overeat these calorie dense foods and plain vegetables by comparison become too bland and boring.
Processed and packaged foods are loaded with thousands of additives and preservatives to control colour, flavour, aroma, texture and shelf life. Unless you have been living in a cave for the past ten years you will know the ramifications regarding our toxic diet, which is why it is all the more shocking when a parent tells me her children won't eat vegetables.
Parents directly and indirectly influence their children's food preferences from the time solid foods are introduced. We have control over our children's actions and positive influences are vital for establishing healthy lifestyle choices in our children.
Children model the behaviours of those around them and sitting together as a family at a dining table has a huge influence compared with children who eat separately. When my friends and their children arrived for dinner at my house they were quite excited at the prospect of sitting with the grown ups to eat.
I decided to serve dinner with side bowls of vegetables and placed one between the non vegetable eating children and told them to help themselves. Although reluctant at first they did both take some vegetables and seemed to like them? They couldn't name the vegetables individually, I could understand for example if my friend had said they don't like carrots or they prefer mashed swede......but there are so many vegetables out there is it really possible that those small children could already opine that they don't like any vegetables?
Another friend of mine has bought her young children gardening boxes from rocketgardens.co.uk the pack includes a selection of organic baby plants with a growing guide. She says: 'The act of planting, watering, watching the plants grow, then picking and eating their own crop has given her children a real connection to vegetables. Sowing a few seeds in pots (if you're short of garden space) is a good way to get children interested in plants, basically we can positively determine our children's attitudes towards food.
What I will say is that vegetables need enhancing with some delicious grass fed butter, which in moderation is full of vitamins and nutrients, (never substitute butter with toxic trans-fats!) Butter can turn bland vegetables into masterpieces, add a little parmesan cheese (salty) and I'm sure your children will dig in.
The vegetables I prepared for dinner were made all the more delicious by adding soft buttery leeks cooked in their own juices. Subtler than onions, leeks lend themselves very well to other flavours and add new dimensions to plain mixed vegetables or cauliflower cheese.
Leeks
Recipe
Buy more leeks than you need, because there's quite a bit of trimming
Butter
Mixed vegetables
First take off the tough outer leaves and trim off most of the dark green part
Using a sharp knife, make an incision vertically halfway down
Fan out the layers of leek and rinse under running water
Now cut leeks all the way through vertically, chop into 1 inch pieces
Place a frying pan over a medium heat, add a knob of butter and let it melt
Add the leeks, stir them around, turn the heat down low and let them cook gently for 5 minutes
There will be quite a lot of juice that collects in the pan which will be delicious
Cook other vegetables and add to leeks, stir and season
Likewise add buttery leeks to cauliflower cheese
Vegetables don't have to be waterlogged, grey and overcooked. Their bright colours and freshness should be appealing, with seasoning and a little imagination vegetables are stars in their own right.
'First off, let's clear this up - fries are not a side dish and you can't count those as a vegetable. Sorry.'
- Tez Brooks
Love Donna xxxxxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment