Genuinely curious as a vegetarian: aren't vegetables considered a part of daily meals in your household? I've been asked this question by a couple of friends and in my experience, it depends on how the veggies are cooked (there are a million ways to make them tasty), and if the kids actually see adults eat veggies regularly.
I'm almost entirely plant based and despite this, my child will not go near a vegetable. It's reached a point where I use extra vegetables when I make stocks because she will eat soup, but only if it has meat and no visible vegetables. Putting extra vegetables in the stock likely accomplishes nothing but it makes me feel a little bit better.
I've gone so far as to watch exotic cooking shows on YouTube with her to see if any vegetable dishes or different ways to prepare them are interesting. I deserve a fucking Michelin star with all I've learned about cooking vegetables for her. Despite this, vegetables are bad and "Mmmm actually, kids don't have to eat vegetables."
You know, you'd think so. Unfortunately, she embodies everything I love(d) about hacker culture in her pursuit of a vegetable free existence. It would be admirable if I didn't really want to feed her a damned vegetable. :)
If it makes you feel better, I knew two people who were both committed foodies (an Italian and the guy who risked a $25k fine smuggling a leg of jamón ibérico through customs before there was a licensed importer), and then their son went through (IIRC) a 5 year stretch where he would not eat almost anything other than Wonderbread and Jif peanut butter. I am not exaggerating: their doctor actually pushed on vitamin supplements to avoid scurvy.
I have a 9mo and we don’t cook usually so we’re feeding him industrialized baby foods (slowly introducing eggs, alphabet noodles, etc. His appetite is growing crazy fast and baby food isn’t cheap…)
Typically "vegetables" are synonymous with "the boring vegetables" when it comes to convincing kids to eat them. They'll jam in the mash potato like it's going out of fashion, but the kale/cabbage gets funny looks and derision.
I try to get creative with my vegetables so that not only my kids eat them more, but so do I.
and by creative I mean "add lots of different flavours, herbs, and spices to mask their otherwise dullness to make them exciting"
Using the adjective "dullness" is unimaginable to me. All the vegs I've ever fried were delicious. No spices, all I need is butter and salt. How are you folks preparing those vegs?
I have a vegetarian adult friend who doesn't like to eat vegetables. They eat things that contain vegetables, such as grilled/baked veggie burgers, but dislike things which are obvious vegetables.
Personally I love them and will happily eat a meal consisting of nothing else, but as I eat a lot of takeout food due to my work setup, it's surprisingly difficult to get a dish full of good vegetables that way.
