Children and vegetables
This is an attempt to address the question that all parents and grandparents, maybe you included, face so often: how can we get children to like vegetables? And at the same time, we might get away from the familiar, day-in, day-out round of pasta, chips, toast..
Well, I can hear you say, it's not that easy, maybe “Mission Impossible”. Even so, there are some things you can try which might help.
Well, I can hear you say, it's not that easy, maybe “Mission Impossible”. Even so, there are some things you can try which might help.
16 K 5/5 (12 reviews)
Last modified on: March 9th 2017
Children and vegetables
First of all, an observation: our little darlings are very sensitive to appearances. So, if the food does not look “nice” to start with, you've already lost the battle! In other words, if green vegetables don't look attractively green when you put them in front of children, you'll hear, even before they try the food, “It looks yukky, I don't like it!” And who can blame them when “canteen” vegetables are so often a sorry sight: big chunks of khaki-coloured broccoli, cooked to death and still swimming in a pool of murky water – hardly likely to win over adults, let alone children!
Let's stick with broccoli for a moment, as it's a good illustration of the problem we're up against: for even half a chance that children will like it, it needs to be beautifully fresh and green, only just cooked (still with a little “bite”), cut up small, and – above all – good quality.
2) First, boil lightly: Plunge the broccoli into a large pan of boiling salted water or, better still, chicken stock, for 3 or 4 minutes. Watch for the change in colour to a bright emerald green, then check if cooked by tasting. The broccoli should still be slightly firm. Drain and cool straight away in cold (or even iced) water to stop the cooking (very important). When cool, drain again thoroughly – a salad spinner is the best way of doing this.
3) Add flavour with butter and shallot: Peel a shallot and chop very finely. Melt a generous knob of butter in a pan, add the shallot, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute (without browning either the butter or the shallot).
4) Second, very brief cooking: Add the broccoli to the pan and stir well. Heat through (rather than cook any further), salt and pepper lightly, then taste to check the seasoning. Serve immediately, keeping your fingers crossed…
You can also include other food you wish to serve with the vegetables. Here, for example, there are bits of ham added.
Please note: It could well be that when you serve the food, you may need to be firm and use the good old “Taste it first!”
You will have realised by now that there is no magic formula to get children to enjoy vegetables, but by making an effort like this, you will at least stand a chance. And, if nothing else, this is the way good restaurants cook and the secret of the colourful and attractive vegetables shown on TV cookery programmes.
To sum up: To appeal to children, vegetables need to be cut up small, look colourful and have plenty of flavour.
Let's stick with broccoli for a moment, as it's a good illustration of the problem we're up against: for even half a chance that children will like it, it needs to be beautifully fresh and green, only just cooked (still with a little “bite”), cut up small, and – above all – good quality.
What to do:
1) Cut up to an appropriate size: the notion of “big” or “small” is different for adults and children. For our purposes, broccoli needs to be cut into small, separate florets – only these tips – about the size of the top joint of your thumb and no larger. Rinse thoroughly.
2) First, boil lightly: Plunge the broccoli into a large pan of boiling salted water or, better still, chicken stock, for 3 or 4 minutes. Watch for the change in colour to a bright emerald green, then check if cooked by tasting. The broccoli should still be slightly firm. Drain and cool straight away in cold (or even iced) water to stop the cooking (very important). When cool, drain again thoroughly – a salad spinner is the best way of doing this.
3) Add flavour with butter and shallot: Peel a shallot and chop very finely. Melt a generous knob of butter in a pan, add the shallot, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute (without browning either the butter or the shallot).
4) Second, very brief cooking: Add the broccoli to the pan and stir well. Heat through (rather than cook any further), salt and pepper lightly, then taste to check the seasoning. Serve immediately, keeping your fingers crossed…
You can also include other food you wish to serve with the vegetables. Here, for example, there are bits of ham added.
Please note: It could well be that when you serve the food, you may need to be firm and use the good old “Taste it first!”
And the last resort?
If all else fails, don't despair! Over time, as we grow up into teenagers, then adults, our tastes change quite dramatically: it was impossible to get my elder son to eat spinach, for example, when he was small. Now he loves it.You will have realised by now that there is no magic formula to get children to enjoy vegetables, but by making an effort like this, you will at least stand a chance. And, if nothing else, this is the way good restaurants cook and the secret of the colourful and attractive vegetables shown on TV cookery programmes.
To sum up: To appeal to children, vegetables need to be cut up small, look colourful and have plenty of flavour.
Lasts posts
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20251,6015
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,3035
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,200
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20253,4615
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20258,0263
Other pages you may also like
Maillard reactions
This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...January 28th 201538 K4
The skin of the almonds
If you like almonds, in their dried fruit version, you must use them quite often in cooking or baking, whether powdered or whole. It is not obvious, but in fact there is 2 kinds of almonds in the market, wholesale with or without the skin. .February 8th 202024 K4.7
Cooking scallops
We are, as I write these lines, in the season of the scallops, if you like that it is necessary to benefit from it as much as possible, although it is alas not cheap. I like scallops a lot, but I have to admit that it has naturally little taste, or, said differently, it takes the taste of what...November 23th 202113 K5
From website to blog
Hello everyone, Today I'm inaugurating the cooking-ez.com "blog". The idea is to have a space for discussion open to everone, but not necessarily linked to a particular recipe or page. I hope the posts will be sufficiently interesting that you'll enjoy reading and discussing them. The...January 1st 201121 K3.9
Devising a recipe
A question I'm often asked is: how do you come up with your recipes? How do you perfect them? This is something I've already mentioned on this page, but I'll take this opportunity to go into a bit more detail.October 15th 201218 K4.4
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.