Kids Who Don't Like Veggies

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Okay, I’ll admit it: My kids thought it was odd that Mary Kate and Ashley were singing that if they were president, they wouldn’t have to eat their vegetables (in Our First Video, filmed circa 1993). They were dancing and singing with their much detested large, green stalks of broccoli. But my kids wanted to know: What’s all this hoopla about green veggies?

Is broccoli really that terrible tasting?

Well, yes.

Yes, that is, if you have sensitive tastebuds.

Researchers at Rutgers University recently published some novel findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to the effect that kids who are genetically more sensitive to bitter tastes are more likely to eat fewer vegetables. Apparently gene TAS2R38 can have variations that cause some children and people to be extra-sensitive to bitter flavors.

In the free-choice taste test, it was found that children with this sensitivity (tasters) ate significantly fewer of the more bitter vegetables (black olives, broccoli and cucumbers) than the non-tasters. Vegetables offered were black olives, raw broccoli, cucumbers, carrots and red peppers.

The researchers concluded: “The nontaster children consumed more vegetables, particularly the vegetables that were bitter tasting, than did the taster children during a free-choice intake test. These novel findings suggest that the PROP bitter-taste phenotype contributes to the development of vegetable acceptance and consumption patterns during early childhood.”

So is it all in the tastebuds?

Another study from University College and Kings College London found that children inherit their taste for protein-rich foods such as meat and fish; however, their taste for vegetables and desserts is influenced.

So, I wonder, were Mary Kate and Ashley genetically predisposed to dislike broccoli? Could be.

Then again, maybe they just needed a good recipe. After all, isn’t preparation half, if not more, of the challenge when determining if you like a food, or even a specific dish? If I had presented my kids with dull, overcooked broccoli, they may have turned up their noses too.

Luckily my kids have tried broccoli in a lot of different ways. And my son loved it so much that when my daughter was a toddler, he created a little story at dinnertime to pretend the par-boiled bright green florets were trees. He dunked those trees into little cups of ranch dressing: snow.

And that’s all it took: He didn’t even get to eat the second tree with snow before she wanted to join in. That was the last time she didn’t want to try a veggie—‘cause after all, she was at that delightfully young age, that if big brother did it, she wanted to also.

Of course, if you think you have an extra-sensitive taster in your household, maybe you want to forego the broccoli and offer some milder-flavored vegetable choices instead. After all, wouldn’t your kids be better off eating a variety of mild veggies that they find appealing?

Think potatoes, corn, lettuce, chinese cabbage, bok choy, summer squash, green beans, peas.

Plus, it’s always a good idea to set a good example yourself. If you’re regularly noshing on high-fat snack foods and desserts, that’s the example you’re setting for your household.

Sure, I’ve been blessed with two kids who love vegetables—I’m probably just lucky—but then again, here’s another great recipe that we all like. Try this with green cabbage or Chinese cabbage and surprise your whole family with how simple—and delicious—veggies can be!

Serves/Makes: 4

• 1 medium head cabbage
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 ounces low-fat cream cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste