European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse A by Don Oldenburg Washington Post perhaps the earliest of adulthood s unsolved mysteries a other than he a opposite sex came abruptly one fall Day. My freshman year when i woke up with a i craving for peas. A not Green peas fresh from the pod but rather those v ruled Gray Green pearls that acquire their own flavor and texture after time in a can. There was no logic this Odd and insatiable hankering. My parents sat stunned during my next visit Home until i had finished scraping the Bottom of a bowl of reheated creamed r peas. V. A Quot you eat peas now a they asked confused by a Rush of memories of past skirmishes Over untouched vegetables. Sure they d expected their boy to come it Home from his first semester of College with god knows what vices. But eating peas Quot i can t explain i replied also confused. Even \ now i can t explain it. But i think of this every time my 3 i year old son refuses to eat peas or almost any other a vegetable. Probably to no Parent s Surprise a Survey cited in Tom and Nancy Biracree the parents Book of facts discloses that the average youngster from birth to age. 5, tolerates regularly Only six of 29 Standard vegetables three cooked and three raw. Scientists who be pondered childhood aversion to veggies have discovered that humans for reasons of natural selection inherit a taste for sweets and a dislike for bitterness. That makes some senso since Many poisonous plants taste bitter so in part avoiding. Bitter tasting things accounts for the survival of the species. This should be remembered by frazzled parents who be had just about enough of Little Johnny gagging Over Brussels sprouts. This should never be told to anyone under 16. There Are also biological excuses that Young vegetable refuseniks need not know Quot first thing you have to remember is that that a 3-, or 4-year old has much More sensitive taste buds than you and i have Quot Gerda Mccahan says of this kid vegetable conundrum. Quot children get into More of an adult diet at that age and to them certain things just taste . For Mccahan a Furman University psychologist who has counselled parents and tykes about mealtime malevolence what tasted awful was okra a an unfortunate displeasure growing up in the heart of South Carolina where Gumbo is a Staple. It was t Only the taste confesses Mccahan but the Slimy consistency of boiled okra that she abhors even today. Quot like raw oysters Quot she gulps. Quot parents ought to be a Little bit More aware of the fact that taste in general is so much stronger for Little children. That will Start to disappear when they become 10 or t2.&Quot until then spinach tends to brutalize Young taste buds. Beets Are like the bad trip of the produce aisle too much flavor Neon color mystifying texture. That cauliflower looks like someone s brain overshadows its relatively benign taste. Cucumbers Are offensive until they re de Vengela blazed into pickles. Tomatoes Arentt too bad until parents get this crazy notion to Stew them and top them with bread crumbs. No matter How often parents insist these foods Are Good no empirical a evidence supports the claim for a kid. But you have to be sure kids try everything when they re Little or otherwise end up with strange. Hating patterns Quot says Mccahan who groans at the thought of one of her grandchildren whose dislike for vegetables drove him to eating Only Peanut Butler and hamburgers. A a a i have vivid memories of nausea from the odor of asparagus steaming on the stove. I still wonder about the reasoning of one otherwise Loving and Well meaning aunt who once tried to teach 6-year-old me to eat those Mushy stalks by mashing them into my already mashed potatoes. It proved to be a mistake that i never forgot and that my aunt denied any memory of the rest of her life. And yet three decades later. I am an aficionado of fresh asparagus. Now i m convinced it is the peas and asparagus that secretly urge me to become a parental ogre and Force feed my reluctant Little son the vegetables t know to behold the understanding a child a sensitive taste buds its not unusual for children to prefer other foods such As a Corn dog to vegetables Good for him and in is my dear Sweet aunt s legacy that keeps me from doing it still there must he a balance Between physiologically Good and. Psychologically sound when it comes to children arid vegetables this Issue is no Small Domestic squabble even though the optimum portions Are rather Small the u s department of agriculture s Institute of Home economics and the u s. Department of health and human services children a Bureau recommend that a balanced diet for a 2 or 3 year old toddler should include one 3 Tablespoon serving daily of Green yellow fruits and vegetables and two 3 Tablespoon Servings of other vegetables such As potatoes. Preschoolers a year or two older should gel the same Only a Little More of each. The us a decades ago even tried to make things easier than that. It contracted a nutritionist who later owned a historic inn in Charlottesville Ato come up with recipes for vegetable dishes that would Appeal to school kids presumably the us a would then Issue these recipes to Public school cafeteria Cooks and the entire problem of getting youngsters to clean their me Mac during lunch period would disappear fast As you could say succotash. Apparently nothing much changed in the school lunchrooms Between kids and spinach. Though years later the vegetable dishes at the inn in Charloe Sosville particularly the baked creamed cucumbers never went to waste. Barbara Deskins scoffs at All the commotion mealtime causes in so Many families. Quot it s unfortunate if parents and children get into Battles Over vegetables a says the University of Pittsburgh professor of clinical dietetics and nutrition Quot probably for most parents there is no reason to really get Hung up on her solution Quot if you look at Why nutritionists think children should eat vegetables it s primarily for Vitamin a Vitamin a some of the Trace minerals and fiber Quot she says. Quot you can get these same nutrients and vitamins from fruits. If a Parent can get four Small Servings of fruits in their children each Day then technically the children done to have to Eal vegetables Quot if Only it were so easy. But Gerda Mccahan figures this to be a struggle that goes Well beyond simple taste and nutrition a and not one to be resolved on a technicality. Quot the strange part of it is that this is something people really suffer Over Quot she says Quot because of it you Feori unsuccessful in the Parent role parents Are supposed to be Nur Turant. Every mama who Ever cooked and has the food rejected feels a Little like a failure food is Sorl of love made tangible Quot so in a senso you have i his emotionally charged situation at the table. The child finds out that if he does t eat he gels a lot of attention and if he Oats nobody says anything what you must remember is that every child likes to make parents jump through a . Mcchan s answer be reasonable. Be patient Don t coerce. Don t bribe. Most important Don t Loed them Between meals. Her grown grandson who ate Only Peanut butter and hamburgers Quot one Day i asked him How did it happen that he finally got to eating like everyone else Quot she recalls Quot he said he got Good and vegetable Stew by Marian Burros new York times Deborah Madison was the founding chef Al greens in san Francisco generally considered by aficionados to be the Best vegetarian restaurant in the United states. Madison s latest cookbook., the Savory Way Bantam books. $24 05includes a recipe for eggplant and potatoes stewed Aith spices. Madison has a Way with flavors i have made substantial changes recipe but it was the inspiration for follows cauliflower has been adder her Hai changes the texture and flavor a and the techniques for preparation have been altered to reduce the amount of time it lakes the result is not necessarily better just different. It would be Nice with sliced oranges that have been sprinkled with a bit of fruity Olive Oil. Eggplant and potatoes stewed with spices iv2 pounds of eggplant sliced about i Inch thick 4 Tablespoons Corn canola of safflower Oil plus a Little for brushing a Pound Large new potatoes scrubbed and unpeeled 1 Pound onion coarsely chopped 2 Large cloves garlic minced 1 i Teaspoons ground cumin 1 Bay Leaf 1 head cauliflower Flowerette Cut into bite size pieces 1va Tablespoons coarsely grated fresh Ginger 6 canned Plum tomatoes Well drained i cup chopped Cilantro 1 cup or More non fat pain Yogurt heat bit of and cover broiler Pun w Itu mum mum pal arrange Ogg Panf on broiler Pun nod Brush ight a on Ryloh sides with Oil pm i egg Glam As dose to heat As Poos l c watching thai ten. Sucks do riot bum when urn u due brawn Tarn and brow a or u do total time about 15 minutes Cut tic potato slices into Quarter. And saute in 2 Tablespoons of Oil until shoes begin to Brown and soften remove and set shoe1 abide in same Skillet pour remaining Oil and saute Omun and garlic in Oil for a minute or two add Cuytun and Bay Leaf and to Well continue to saute until onions Sohrn and take on color add cauliflower Ginger and tomatoes breaking up tomatoes with hands them to pan cover and Cook Ghoul 5 minutes until cauliflower is Dune when eggplant is cod enough to be handled. Tern Olf skin Cut into Large chunks and add to Skillet to Hunt through be Raj w in Cilantro arid Yogurt idd 2 a a a a a or 3 smaller Servings foday August 17, 1590 the stars and stripes Irir pc Page
