Do veggies need to be 'deceptive' in order for kids to eat them?

While we as adults know how yummy veggies can be, it IS difficult to convince a two or three year old of that. I am a HUGE fan of Seinfelds book, but I also agree that you don't need to decieve your kids. I have them help me cook the recipes in the book, so my kids just think broccoli is one of the many ingredients in their gingerbread. What these recipes are allowing me to do is give my kids really balanced meals, and even though they have to try their veggies, I don't have to fight with them every meal if they don't like them. Plus, since they think chickpeas go in cookies, its easier to get them to taste them on their own. I think that if you include your kids in the cooking, there is no deception.

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Luckily for me, my 14 month old would rather have peas or beans than a cookie. I don't have any problems getting her to eat veggies or fruits. I think a lot of it has to do with the way kids perceive veggies. If other kids are telling them that they're gross (or a parent saying 'eww brocolli!') then sure they're going to think they aren't good.

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I am fortunate that my toddler will eat her veggies as well. I serve then with every dinner and she knows that she has to eat at least some of them. When I get "sneaky" with her veggies I rarley have to do any more that just mix them with her mac-n-cheese and she gobbles them up.
I started her young, as soon as she was able to digest veggies, I bought a mini food processor and would puree fresh veggies instead of buying "babyfood" veggies. Also, I eat veggies with evey dinner and I think that helps a lot too!

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Gotta agree with Marcia on this one... kids like what they like, and they also follow clues from their parents, and others around them. If you, or Grandma, or their friend says "eewww... spinach", the child is likely to say that, too.

Sometimes you'll run across a veggie (or other food) that the child simply doesn't like. For Little Man, it's green beans. Don't know why, he just doesn't like them. That's fine with me. I offer them at the table, but don't make a fuss when he doesn't eat them. He makes up for it with spinach, broccoli, fruit, and even frozen peas - straight out of the freezer - on a hot summer's day.

As for broccoli in his gingerbread? Sorry, but *barf* !! Gingerbread is gingerbread. Keep your veggies out of my cookies.

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My kids actually eat their veggies with no problems (most of the time). Meat on the other hand, there we have a problem. I look at these purees (I use baby food) as just ingredients. No one thinks they have to tell their kids when they put eggs in french toast, so why would I tell them I dumped in some sweet potatoes. It is just healthier cooking. So, I add squash and carrots to my sauce, I add applesauce to my cookies instead of oil, it is just about making recipes healthy. Some people might need a cookbook to do it.

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I guess I'm lucky that my son loves his fruits and veggies. We never had to hide them. He saw us eating them and we never made a big deal of "yum! Broccoli!".

If we use fruit and veggies as "hidden" ingredients, it's more for me. My parents forced fruit on me, and I can't stand the texture or the smell of certain fruits. Hidden ingredients solve the texture/smell problem, and I could see it working very well for a kid who can't get past the texture/smell.

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I can't help but feel that veggies are almost always being "hidden" to a certain degree, as a function of the preparation -- whether adding butter, garlic, cheese, sauce, etc., unless in raw form. I mean, eggplant parm could be considered eggplant smothered with cheese and sauce. Of course, I see absolutely nothing wrong with bringing out or concealing certain flavors! However, I think it may be wise both to teach kids about the deliciousness of vegetables AND to "sneak" them into their tummies by offering both blatant vegetables and a dish with hidden vegetables in the same meal.

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Little kids' taste buds are way more sensitive than ours, and some kids really can't stand the taste of some veggies. I remember when I hated cooked carrots, but now I love them. Similar with peas. I would eat most green things but my brother (who was practically my twin) could not abide anything green. I really think it's how the texture and flavor appeal (or not) to the individual child.

I do think the parents' attitudes affect kids' attitudes, but that's not the whole story. My mom loved lima beans and butter beans, but they both made me want to literally vomit. Similar with beets - I still can't stand beets. On the other hand, I've always loved spinach though my mom hated it and let me know this from day one.

That said, there is enough variety in veggies that if they don't like thing A, they may still eat thing B, C, or D. I haven't tried hiding veggies, but I don't bother to buy stuff that I know disgusts my kids. They eat a variety of organic veggies and fruits and see me doing the same. One nice thing about organics is that they don't always taste the same ("consistency" is a questionable quality), so kids experience different flavors all the time. This helps them to develop a flexible palate. If something really makes them want to puke or scream, I will wait a while and re-introduce it later, since our taste buds change all the time.

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Whether or not your kids will eat veggies has NOTHING to do with you or your trips to the Farmer's Market. My son shops and cooks with me and shows great enthusiasm for both things. But eating? No, he won't eat most things that I want to eat. Some kids are super picky and some aren't. I introduced veggies and other foods to my kids in the same way. Now my 20 month old will eat anything and my 4 year old still has a very limited palate. I know it's not us, because my daughter eats what we eat with little or no coaxing. It's just who she is.

There's nothing I can do about it other than starve him into submission and that just doesn't jibe with my parenting style. Mealtimes should be enjoyable, not a battleground where we force kids to eat "healthy" foods. If you've parented a kid who HATES almost everything you'll know exactly what I mean.

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My kids are pretty good at eating their veggies. My middle son has been a vegetarian for years, he may even go so far as to become Vegan someday. It's not because of ethics either, he just never really liked meat. My youngest prefers fruit to most sweets. He is more limited on the vegetables he will eat, he likes broccoli and cauliflower, peas sometimes, corn always, green beans rarely, beets once in awhile, he doesn't like any other vegetables very much. He loves his Granddaddy’s garden, and the beautiful vegetables that come out of it, he just won't eat all of them.

Youngest loves to cook, he will make cookies and cakes with me, but unless we are making lemon curd he won't eat any of it. The same for main dishes and vegetables, he will happily help me cook anything I can imagine, but he won't always eat them.

I have found that if I offer something that he refuses, I can often leave it where he can get it and he will try it later. (I know you can't leave food out at room temp. for very long, I'll put it in an easy to open dish in the refrigerator and let him know that if he wants it he can get it.) Maybe he just prefers cold foods.

My husband on the other hand? Hiding vegetables in other dishes is just about the only way you will get him to eat them. Except for when I guilt him into eating some vegetables at family meals.

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My kids' pediatrician just recommended Seinfeld's book to me. She (Seinfeld) isn't really about being sneaky. She advocates also placing a bit of the vegetable alongside the main dish (in which the veggie is hidden) to get kids used to the idea of having them on their plates. I think whatever gets your kids to eat healthily, do it!

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PBJH:

Nope. Both kids were breastfed for over a year. They got no solids (just breastmilk) before they were six months old. I weaned them both around 14 months. If anything my diet was worse during my second pregnancy because I was too exhausted to cook much.

However, in my son's defense: He does have celiac disease, which means that the majority of the foods he used to eat pre-diagnosis were poisoning him. I think a lot of my son's finickiness is due to the fact that his stomach was bothering him for a long time.

But way before any celiac symptoms set in, the minute he could feed himself, he had VERY strong opinions about what he would put in his mouth. And it has nothing to do with what's healthy and what's not. He doesn't like a lot of sweets any better than he does veggies. He just has a very limited palate. But nutritionally he's fine. Kids can live on fruit, brown rice pasta, muenster and cottage cheese. The nutritionist said so!

He is starting to add in some foods that he had eschewed for a while. But it's VERY slow going. And I honestly don't think I could have done anything any differently to make him less picky.

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My daughter eats better than I do. If I am wanting a candy bar she is asking for a apple. Grapes, peaches,pears.
Carrots(we always have around) cucumbers, peas, green beans, mushrooms.

All good. Occasionally she will ask for M&Ms. But it is so rare I dont mind grabbing her a pack. She has made both my husband and I healthier.

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My young toddler loves her fruits and veggies. She is used to them since they pop up at every meal. She'll snack on steamed cauliflower even. The amount of nutrition you get from hiding these healthy foods in unhealthy foods is minimal, and plus it doesn't teach children healthy eating habits. Children can only eat what they are served.

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pbhj:
That's a very interesting study, but it doesn't fit any of my experiences with kids either. I've always loved all veggies and was even a vegetarian for 10 years until I got pregnant and a bit anemic. My older brother was a terribly picky eater (still won't even eat tomatoes), mom breast-fed him much longer than me, and I know her diet was better through both pregnancy and infancy with him than with me. Yet I ate brussel spouts from the moment they were offered, and he was/is always about meat and potatoes.

While pregnant with my son I ate as many veggies as ever. Lately I can't coax him even into the veggies he used to gobble every once in awhile (at 1-2, now he's 3)when he was in the mood. BTW, he has his dad's taste buds to the letter. He sucks on lemons (his dad admits to eating lemon with salt as a kid) and Granny Smith apples which I detest unless cooked into pies (these are the only ones his dad eats). So I've come to the conclusion that mine is the experience of biology way over environment. I do my part and continue to offer them straight-up(although wasteful) while also hiding them in juices, breads, cookies, etc. He throws an indignant fit at the very offer. I figure he'll come around eventually. After all, his dad eats SOME veggies...right? (OK, depending on his mood...:)

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