I bet that you’ve read the title of this article and thought “what’s the secret?”!
It is unfortunately not uncommon for teenagers and children to dislike vegetables. Most vegetables have either a plain, bitter or metallic taste and are not received the same way by the developing tastebuds of children and teenagers as by adults’.
There are A LOT of foods that I now eat and enjoy as a middle aged adult that I wouldn’t even look at when I was a child or a teenager. I remember on many occasions being forced to eat my vegs, only to end up in the toilets at the end of the meal, throwing them all up.
My teenage son is not a fan of vegetables, and I can’t really blame him for this, considering my story. I have never forced him, again, remembering my story and how painful psychologically it was to be made feel there was something wrong with you for not eating or liking vegs.
However, I’ve always tried to “skilfully” sneak a vegetable or two in his food, mostly failures, I have to admit, but one success - my “special mash” is boiled potatoes, with either boiled broccoli or spinach (occasionally I might dump a carrot as well), butter, a little bit of milk all blended together, and half a pack of grated cheese. By its colour, it is obvious there are greens in there, but since it’s “special” with loads of cheese (he’s always loved cheese), it makes it all better. When he was little and until recently, that would be the only way he would eat vegetables willingly.
However, in the last year or so, he has become more and more passionate about Japan and its culture (hopefully at some point he’ll get to Zen practices 🤣). We have been watching some Japanese anime series on TV and very often we would see characters eating “ramen”. To me, it looked like a “made up” meal, but by researching online I discovered that it was a genuine Japanese traditional dish. Searching for recipes - there are many if you google “ramen recipes” - I realised that some of the ingredients were unfamiliar to me, but that I could easily reproduce something that would look like and taste like ramen.
It is now a MUST weekly meal that we have twice a week (because I cook bigger quantities so there is always leftovers for the next day - time saving!) and a favourite of his - and he is fully aware there are vegetables in there; he even eats the soft boiled eggs even though “he doesn’t like eggs”! But you see, it’s Japanese, so if it’s Japanese, it’s delicious!
I hope this little story would have brought you a glimmer of hope and inspired you to try and find creative ways to help your children and teens eat more vegetables painlessly (both for you and for them) and wilfully.
As a bonus, here’s my recipe for my Ramen-style dish: - it is about 4 servings
Ingredients: mince beef (about 250g), 2 stock cubes (beef or vegetables), 1 courgette, 2 peeled carrots, 1 peeled parsnip, 1/4 small white cabbage cut in thin strips, 1 pack of noodles (I now prefer using thick rice noodles usually for Udon as I am gluten intolerant, but you can use normal flat noodles. I did on this first attempt on the photo), 1 soft boiled egg per person, pinch of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder, 1 tablespoon of ghee, 5 to 10 mushrooms depending on size (chopped in thinnish slices, whatever you can safely manage - I like using chestnut mushrooms since I have very limited access to the “real” type)
I peel my vegetables (skin off, then carry on peeling the whole vegetables - it’s quicker to cook and the taste is not as isolated and noticeable as when you chew chunks), then place them with all the ingredients (apart from eggs) in a big stew/casserole dish, and cover it all with boiled water from the kettle. Put on medium heat for about 15 minutes with a lid covering the dish (I leave a tiny bit of a gap to let some of the steam escape). I mix it with a wooden spoon once in a while to separate and spread the noodles.
10 minutes before it’s done, I boil some water in a kettle and, in a saucepan, I place my eggs and cover with the boiled water. I leave on medium heat for about 6 minutes and place my eggs in a bowl of cold water for a couple of minutes to cool the shells and outer egg, then peel the shells off.
Once the Ramen is ready, fill in the serving bowls, cut the eggs in 2 and place on top of the “soup” - et voila! Enjoy ❤️❤️❤️
You can obviously replace the beef with any other meat - or fish - you wish, or if you are vegetarian or vegan, pulses would be very nice as well, or meat alternatives such as quorn or tofu. And of course, any vegs will do as well ❤️❤️❤️.
