Media and society tell you it’s bad. Just feed your kids everything in an unbiased way to see what they like. Grandparents, friends and other people will say things and it will bias them.
My 4 yr old refused to try lettuce and by extension spinach. Had a bite of my spinach and ricotta pastry roll one day. Now demands them at the bakery. Also will try anything if I say it has spinach in it.
Also stole some of my ceasar salad I had on the bench for lunch, now loves (home made only) ceasar salad. Won’t eat a bowl, but I make a double batch as she’ll sit there and demand constant forkfulls of my bowl.
That’s fair. It’s also very important to listen to your kids when they tell you they don’t like something. Broccoli literally smells and tastes like human waste to me - even if it’s hiding in something. That’s clearly not bias.
This is arguable. Lots of kids will reflexively tell you they don’t like something they don’t want to try, and it often takes several tries for them to develop a taste for something and they suddenly love it. A better option is to ask them to eat one bite of something less favorable in order to access several bites of something more favorable. Whatever broccoli trauma you have is highly atypical, I’m sorry you’re dealing with that. I hide broccoli everywhere
There is no actual rule about this. In my experience children are liable to one day decide that they no longer like a thing that they used to enjoy eating all the time.
Wtf am I supposed to do with all these string cheese stickes now? I literally buy them in bulk and she suddenly decides she doesnt like them anymore right after I restocked!
The other one has also declared that balony is gross, after enjoying a balony sandwich for breakfast several times a week for over a year. But thats fine I guess, balony isnt healthy and it is indeed kind gross, but also I still like it and will eat what he doesnt. The problem is that he instead wants avocado toast for breakfast. Hes only 7 and already ruining his chances of ever owning a house.
It’s probably better not to assume they’re just making it up though. Children have more sensitivity to bitterness etc. because they are more vulnerable to dying from poison, it’s not just an arbitrary psychological thing.
At the same time though- ask kids about why they don’t like it. I was in my 30s before I realized bananas don’t burn everyone’s mouth. I literally thought burning and itching was part of the flavor profile and most people just like it…? Or like bananas enough to not mind that?
Not saying that at all, just saying the overwhelming majority of children are not having that reaction, and taking “I don’t like it” at face value every time is not going to be productive in developing healthy eating habits
I also don’t like it. Do you like cauliflower? I have a theory that many people either love broccoli or cauliflower , only some like both. Just like cats and dogs. I only like to eat cauliflower and cats.
I remember the Kids Next Door episode about the Spinach Inquisition, and thinking the spinach quiche looked good. It helped that everyone who ate it in the episode was like, “You should try this, it’s good.”
This is another lingering effect of how white Americans didn’t figure out how to cook until like 20 years ago. For a long time the only preperation of broccoli here was just boiling it down into an indistinguishable bitter paste. If you were lucky you got salt. The kids hated it because it sucked but their parents decided that actually their cooking was fine and the kids were wrong, and it got into the culture that children inherently hate vegetables.
My mother worried (still worries?) about how she wasn’t a good cook but she was fine. She knew how to steam veggies instead of boiling, she knew what a spice was. I have no memory of hating her food. Also broccoli and asparagus and (the new) brussel sprouts are delicious.
I grew up kinda poor and so we ate more vegetables than anything else because my grandpa grew them. Still love broccoli (and potatoes and carrots) because grandma was a good cook. Thanks to my grandparents for making sure I always had something to eat!
Your parents probably roasted vegetables (which is delicious) rather than steaming everything (which is pretty gross). If you had baby boomer parents then everything was steamed, and no salt, pepper, or other flavorings were ever used. There’s also a pretty good chance that it came out of a frozen bag, or a can. It’s amazing that an entire generation of parents didn’t know anything about cooking flavorful food. I mean, I’m sure some of them knew how, but not a single one that I knew.
I imagine you licking things like batteries that are coated with that super bitter compound, that is supposed to prevent kids sticking it in their mouth
I’ve heard of someone here on Lemmy for whom broccoli genuinely tastes vile. So, they don’t just dislike the taste that I presume the majority experience, but it actually smells like fecal matter to them.
Media and society tell you it’s bad. Just feed your kids everything in an unbiased way to see what they like. Grandparents, friends and other people will say things and it will bias them.
My 4 yr old refused to try lettuce and by extension spinach. Had a bite of my spinach and ricotta pastry roll one day. Now demands them at the bakery. Also will try anything if I say it has spinach in it.
Also stole some of my ceasar salad I had on the bench for lunch, now loves (home made only) ceasar salad. Won’t eat a bowl, but I make a double batch as she’ll sit there and demand constant forkfulls of my bowl.
That’s fair. It’s also very important to listen to your kids when they tell you they don’t like something. Broccoli literally smells and tastes like human waste to me - even if it’s hiding in something. That’s clearly not bias.
This is arguable. Lots of kids will reflexively tell you they don’t like something they don’t want to try, and it often takes several tries for them to develop a taste for something and they suddenly love it. A better option is to ask them to eat one bite of something less favorable in order to access several bites of something more favorable. Whatever broccoli trauma you have is highly atypical, I’m sorry you’re dealing with that. I hide broccoli everywhere
There is no actual rule about this. In my experience children are liable to one day decide that they no longer like a thing that they used to enjoy eating all the time.
Wtf am I supposed to do with all these string cheese stickes now? I literally buy them in bulk and she suddenly decides she doesnt like them anymore right after I restocked!
The other one has also declared that balony is gross, after enjoying a balony sandwich for breakfast several times a week for over a year. But thats fine I guess, balony isnt healthy and it is indeed kind gross, but also I still like it and will eat what he doesnt. The problem is that he instead wants avocado toast for breakfast. Hes only 7 and already ruining his chances of ever owning a house.
It’s probably better not to assume they’re just making it up though. Children have more sensitivity to bitterness etc. because they are more vulnerable to dying from poison, it’s not just an arbitrary psychological thing.
At the same time though- ask kids about why they don’t like it. I was in my 30s before I realized bananas don’t burn everyone’s mouth. I literally thought burning and itching was part of the flavor profile and most people just like it…? Or like bananas enough to not mind that?
Yet another person who doesn’t believe me when I say that I have a physical reaction to broccoli.
Edit: and even more with the downvotes. Honestly, what is y’all’s problem? What is so difficult to believe about a simple factual statement?
Not saying that at all, just saying the overwhelming majority of children are not having that reaction, and taking “I don’t like it” at face value every time is not going to be productive in developing healthy eating habits
And then you assumed I had “broccoli trauma.”
You really make it sound like you do
Yeah, especially by how I can taste it before I know it’s in there. Gee.
I also don’t like it. Do you like cauliflower? I have a theory that many people either love broccoli or cauliflower , only some like both. Just like cats and dogs. I only like to eat cauliflower and cats.
Nope, cauliflower is like solid farts.
Please don’t eat cats.
I am insulted!
I remember the Kids Next Door episode about the Spinach Inquisition, and thinking the spinach quiche looked good. It helped that everyone who ate it in the episode was like, “You should try this, it’s good.”
This is another lingering effect of how white Americans didn’t figure out how to cook until like 20 years ago. For a long time the only preperation of broccoli here was just boiling it down into an indistinguishable bitter paste. If you were lucky you got salt. The kids hated it because it sucked but their parents decided that actually their cooking was fine and the kids were wrong, and it got into the culture that children inherently hate vegetables.
My mother worried (still worries?) about how she wasn’t a good cook but she was fine. She knew how to steam veggies instead of boiling, she knew what a spice was. I have no memory of hating her food. Also broccoli and asparagus and (the new) brussel sprouts are delicious.
I grew up kinda poor and so we ate more vegetables than anything else because my grandpa grew them. Still love broccoli (and potatoes and carrots) because grandma was a good cook. Thanks to my grandparents for making sure I always had something to eat!
Cool, so where do you know Stacy from?
Her Spaghetti Nights are better than Linda’s Taco Tuesday’s
Your parents probably roasted vegetables (which is delicious) rather than steaming everything (which is pretty gross). If you had baby boomer parents then everything was steamed, and no salt, pepper, or other flavorings were ever used. There’s also a pretty good chance that it came out of a frozen bag, or a can. It’s amazing that an entire generation of parents didn’t know anything about cooking flavorful food. I mean, I’m sure some of them knew how, but not a single one that I knew.
Fuck you unseasoned steamed broccoli is delicious. Not from frozen though, its gotta be fresh.
Is the brocoli we eat today the same as they were eating when this cliché came about?
Broccoli was one of the few vegetables I liked as a child. It’s tasted the same for the last 30+ years as far as I can tell.
Good point. We’ve cultivated several vegetables to become less bitter over the decades and children are more sensitive to bitter taste than adults.
Me as a kid sucking on grapefruit rind for the bitterness
I imagine you licking things like batteries that are coated with that super bitter compound, that is supposed to prevent kids sticking it in their mouth
Nintendo Switch cartridges
If I was a nintendo switch era baby I totally would be sucking on a game card all the time.
No. We roast fresh veggies and add salt and pepper today. Everyone steamed plain frozen vegetables with freezer burn back then.
I still liked that tbh but I didn’t know any better.
I’ve heard of someone here on Lemmy for whom broccoli genuinely tastes vile. So, they don’t just dislike the taste that I presume the majority experience, but it actually smells like fecal matter to them.
It’s SpaceNoodle and they have joined the chat.
Ah, neat. 🙃