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I have been thinking a lot about baby carrots. I have been thinking a lot about carrots in general, as well as broccoli, butter lettuce, beets, and heirloom tomatoes. In fact, I have been thinking about just about every vegetable out there (French fries are NOT a vegetable) and why we aren’t eating them.
Vegetables, especially baby carrots, have been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to a $25 million ad campaign recently launched aimed at convincing kids that a bag of baby carrots can be just as cool as, say, a bag of Doritos. Whether or not the hip packaging, video game-like commercials, and vending machines emblazoned with the slogan “Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food” will do the trick will take some time to tell. However, one thing is already clear: the campaign certainly has people talking about carrots and their vegetal cousins more than they have in a long time.
The sad news is, for all the growth in farmer’s markets and specialty food stores like Whole Foods with their tempting displays of fruits and veggies, Americans appear to be eating less of these essential nutrient packed foods than ever. In NPD group’s "Eating Patterns in America" released a couple of weeks ago, the latest results show the vegetable eating habits of Americans have barely improved in the last decade and in some cases, have gotten worse.
According to this study, only 23% of meals include a vegetable and that’s even when you include the limp piece of lettuce on a hamburger as counting for a serving. Meanwhile, the number of home cooked dinners reported as including a salad has dropped to 17% from a peak of 22% in 1994.
The speculation for the continued difficulty in incorporating vegetables into a daily diet seems to boil down to one thing: we’re just too lazy. I’ll accept that one person’s lazy is another person’s “too busy” but really, is it that hard to cut a vegetable and cook it? In fact, you’d think with the variety of pre-cut veggies from diced onions to cubed butternut squash, and salads coming in kits complete with croutons and dressing, adding a vegetable to a meal is pretty much as easy as opening a plastic bag. And still we aren’t eating them.
As a vegetable lover (and girlfriend of an uber picky hater of most green foods), I have put some serious time into thinking about what can be done to get people to up their vegetable intake. I think there are three issues at hand when it comes to eating our greens.
1. Convenience: If a pre-peeled bite sized baby carrot needs a $25 million ad campaign to bring in new customers, you can only imagine, what celeriac, beets, and acorn squash would need with their labor intensive prep and long cooking time, to get new eaters to the table. People need to see how preparing and cooking vegetables can be done quickly and painlessly.
2. Variety: If variety is the spice of life than it is no wonder people are eating fewer salads when the same old boring Chinese chicken, chopped, and Caesar salads are all that’s on offer day in and out. Getting people to eat their vegetables and keep eating them is going to mean breathing new life into every day greens.
3. Taste: Above all, food should taste good and vegetables are no exception. And since deep frying might taste good but negates most health benefits, flavors need to be coaxed out of vegetables for the pickier eaters through healthier means such as grilling, seasoning, and using zesty dressings and marinades.
In the coming weeks I’ll take a closer look at these strategies. In the meantime we adults can cross our fingers that in the battle of vending machines the carrots come out ahead in the school popularity contest. And if the carrots win, then maybe by the 35th edition of “Eating Habits of America” we won’t still be asking why Americans refuse to eat vegetables, or at least carrots.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1095-eating-your-vegetables/
Too Cool For Carrots? Think Again.
I have been thinking a lot about baby carrots. I have been thinking a lot about carrots in general, as well as broccoli, butter lettuce, beets, and heirloom tomatoes. In fact, I have been thinking about just about every vegetable out there (French fries are NOT a vegetable) and why we aren’t eating them.
Vegetables, especially baby carrots, have been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to a $25 million ad campaign recently launched aimed at convincing kids that a bag of baby carrots can be just as cool as, say, a bag of Doritos. Whether or not the hip packaging, video game-like commercials, and vending machines emblazoned with the slogan “Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food” will do the trick will take some time to tell. However, one thing is already clear: the campaign certainly has people talking about carrots and their vegetal cousins more than they have in a long time.
The sad news is, for all the growth in farmer’s markets and specialty food stores like Whole Foods with their tempting displays of fruits and veggies, Americans appear to be eating less of these essential nutrient packed foods than ever. In NPD group’s "Eating Patterns in America" released a couple of weeks ago, the latest results show the vegetable eating habits of Americans have barely improved in the last decade and in some cases, have gotten worse.
According to this study, only 23% of meals include a vegetable and that’s even when you include the limp piece of lettuce on a hamburger as counting for a serving. Meanwhile, the number of home cooked dinners reported as including a salad has dropped to 17% from a peak of 22% in 1994.
The speculation for the continued difficulty in incorporating vegetables into a daily diet seems to boil down to one thing: we’re just too lazy. I’ll accept that one person’s lazy is another person’s “too busy” but really, is it that hard to cut a vegetable and cook it? In fact, you’d think with the variety of pre-cut veggies from diced onions to cubed butternut squash, and salads coming in kits complete with croutons and dressing, adding a vegetable to a meal is pretty much as easy as opening a plastic bag. And still we aren’t eating them.
As a vegetable lover (and girlfriend of an uber picky hater of most green foods), I have put some serious time into thinking about what can be done to get people to up their vegetable intake. I think there are three issues at hand when it comes to eating our greens.
1. Convenience: If a pre-peeled bite sized baby carrot needs a $25 million ad campaign to bring in new customers, you can only imagine, what celeriac, beets, and acorn squash would need with their labor intensive prep and long cooking time, to get new eaters to the table. People need to see how preparing and cooking vegetables can be done quickly and painlessly.
2. Variety: If variety is the spice of life than it is no wonder people are eating fewer salads when the same old boring Chinese chicken, chopped, and Caesar salads are all that’s on offer day in and out. Getting people to eat their vegetables and keep eating them is going to mean breathing new life into every day greens.
3. Taste: Above all, food should taste good and vegetables are no exception. And since deep frying might taste good but negates most health benefits, flavors need to be coaxed out of vegetables for the pickier eaters through healthier means such as grilling, seasoning, and using zesty dressings and marinades.
In the coming weeks I’ll take a closer look at these strategies. In the meantime we adults can cross our fingers that in the battle of vending machines the carrots come out ahead in the school popularity contest. And if the carrots win, then maybe by the 35th edition of “Eating Habits of America” we won’t still be asking why Americans refuse to eat vegetables, or at least carrots.
Quick Chicken, Vegetable and Orzo Soup
Made with diced zucchini and/or yellow squash, chicken broth, cooked chicken, chopped or shredded, fresh thyme, chopped herbs such as oregano, sage, or basil, red chili flakes, red bell pepper
Made with diced zucchini and/or yellow squash, chicken broth, cooked chicken, chopped or shredded, fresh thyme, chopped herbs such as oregano, sage, or basil, red chili flakes, red bell pepper
Serves/Makes: 4
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 tablespoon chopped herbs such as oregano, sage, or basil
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup diced zucchini and/or yellow squash
- 1/4 cup orzo pasta
- salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese
Heat olive oil in a large pot over a medium flame. Dice onion and red bell pepper. Saute onion and red pepper in oil for about 3 minutes. Chop garlic and add to the pot with the onion and pepper and saute for another 2 minutes. Add chili flakes, chopped herbs, and thyme spring along with cooked chicken. Pour in chicken broth and cover with a lid. Bring soup to a boil. Once boiling add zucchini and/or yellow squash along with orzo and salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for about 8 minutes, or a couple of minutes shy of package directions for orzo to cook. Orzo will continue cooking in the broth after serving. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Note: This soup does not save well as orzo will absorb too much liquid. Try and cook what you need, adjusting amounts if necessary and serve immediately.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1095-eating-your-vegetables/