Eat your vegetables, they're good for you...kind of

Life just got a whole lot more complicated around the Mannion house.

Maybe we shouldn't let the kids read the newspaper anymore.

Comments

[Kevin Wolf]

Surely, I am a human oddity because I always ate my vegetables. I still love broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, etc.

The only vegetables I don't like are eggplant and squash. And even squash I'll eat, raw in a salad.

But it's a good thing I don't have kids!

[Jennifer]

I'm with you Kevin. I always liked them as well (nasty ones included) and have two kids who do too. Maybe we have some vegetable gene in common not to imply we're vegetables...

[Anne Laurie]

You'll just have to get the kids to grow their own! Nothing improves the taste of vegetables like the sweat of one's brow. Well, that and the fact that home-grown veggies can be selected for flavor, not for machine-picking, container-shipping, or speed-to-market-size-growth. Seriously, it's true what they say about home-grown tomatoes, especially, and all you need to grow enough for the average family is six hours of sunlight daily, a few large pots, and some seedlings from the local garden center. As long as you keep the soil moist, tomatoes do just as well in pots as in a "real garden", plus you can stand the pots where they'll get the most sunlight, you don't have to do any digging (serious deterrent here in clayey, rock-ribbed New England & probably in your neighborhood as well), and it cuts down on pest problems too. Not just soil fungi & cutworms, but the local rabbits haven't figured out that green stuff in pots is edible... nobody loves bunnies for their smarts . You can stand a cage or stake in each pot if you don't want the plants sprawling on the ground, and the occasional shot of water-soluble fertilizer will increase productivity, but those are optional refinements. And if your local garden center is like the ones around here, your choices have gone way beyond the sad, wilting sixpaks of Big Boy and Jetstar that were standard even a few years ago; our local chain sells an amazing variety of good-sized individual plants. Green Zebra, Brandywine, Garden Peach (fuzzy, low-acid, delicious), White Cherry (blush-pink), Sun Gold (orange), Gardener's Delight, Black Cherry (deep burgundy), Russian Prince, Yellow Pear, Hawaiian Pineapple... There are all sorts of evocatively-named heirloom colors & flavors that can only be enjoyed if you grow your own or shop at a really good farmers' market. Which is a pity because many people "don't like vegetables" the same way they "don't like tv dinners", but we know that it's the preparation and not the very concept of cooking that's to blame for bland, unattractive meals-in-a-box!

[Linkmeister]

Kevin, baste sliced eggplant (or zucchini) in olive oil and grill it till it has marks. I guar-on-tee you'll change your mind.

[Redbeard]

If the nutrients per vegetable are reduced, children need to eat MORE vegetables to achieve the same level of nutrition.

[Angie]

well....i personally think that fruits and vegetables are good for you because they reduce the risk of cancer and they also protect us from getting diseases.
vegetables are also good from you because they are packed with lots of vitamin c and minerals that keep us maintain a healthy balanced diet.
i know i might be talking alot of crap.....but at least try it...its better than eating chocolate and sweets....you can eat as much fruits as you want but at the end of the day its non- fattening...get me