# How I get my daughter to eat vegetables
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 4, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641 "2004-01-04T14:48:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/1 "2004-01-04T14:48:14Z")
Zuchini Barracuda (hard thrash punk)
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Doesn’t live in the sea,
Barracuda made of Zuchini!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
You cannot defeat him!
Unless you eat him!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
He is evil and insane!
Gonna eat your brain!
Cause you lots of pain!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Never came from the sea!
He’s after you and me!
He’s sauteed nicely!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
The only way to defeat him
Is if you eat him!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
Zuchini Barracuda!
BA NA NA NA NA NA!
And then she’ll eat. Anybody got anything for Brocolli? Peas?
---
### Author:  [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/2 "2004-01-04T15:14:46Z")
Tell her Barbie/Powerpuff Girls/Clifford/Dora/Arthur/Bugs Bunny[stop me when you’ve read enough] absolutely couldn’t get through lunch or dinner without eating whatever is the offending vegetable _du jour_. Except for beets, BLEEEEEEEEEEECCCHH!
---
### Author:  [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/3 "2004-01-04T15:23:26Z")
My little brother called broccoli florets trees. We would pretend to be enormous dinosaurs munching down on the forest as we tore into the broccoli with many savage roars and growls. The savage roars and growls were probably more suitable to a carnivorus species, but biological accuracy takes a backseat to supplying Vitamin C and calcium.
Broccoli with cheese sauce: the forest after a nearby vocanic eruption deposited a layer of burning hot lava over the trees.
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/4 "2004-01-04T15:41:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sugaree \*
> \*\*My little brother called broccoli florets trees. We would pretend to be enormous dinosaurs munching down on the forest as we tore into the broccoli with many savage roars and growls. The savage roars and growls were probably more suitable to a carnivorus species, but biological accuracy takes a backseat to supplying Vitamin C and calcium.
>
> Broccoli with cheese sauce: the forest after a nearby vocanic eruption deposited a layer of burning hot lava over the trees. \*\*
I used the broccoli “trees” dinosaur bit with my kids.
A volcano is a hollowed out mound of mashed potato, filled with baked beans with hot dog piece “people” fleeing down the side. But the lava always gets 'em.
---
### Author:  [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/5 "2004-01-04T16:06:38Z")
We do one of two things:
“Dora the Explorer eats her vegetables and that’s why she gets to go on so many adventures with Boots and don’t you want to be like Dora?”
-or-
“Astronauts have to eat vegetables every day so they can be healthy and strong and go into outer space and if you’re going to be an astronaut you’ve got to be strong enough to drive the spaceship!”
Veggies are called “astronaut food” at my house.
---
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/6 "2004-01-04T17:40:31Z")
Anything can be solved with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, especially if they get to shake it on themselves.
But zucchini? Dude, that’s just mean.
---
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/7 "2004-01-04T17:59:14Z")
You better not eat those carrots. You’re not old enough.
---
### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/8 "2004-01-04T19:03:09Z")
Our rule is " You are three years old, you have to eat three bites."
Or, I will read a book out loud at the table but I won’t turn the page until everyone takes a bite of the offending veggies.
These two are great motivators in the Ujest Domain.
---
### Author:  [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/9 "2004-01-04T20:21:51Z")
Fresh veggies, with ranch dressing work very well in my house. My kids like anything they can “dip”. So, ranch dressing (and they don’t need the low-cal stuff!) and broccoli and carrot trays are a frequent snack while I am finishing up dinner or lunch.
---
### Author:  [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/10 "2004-01-04T20:42:50Z")
If they don’t work cooked, try them raw. Worked great for my mom. Our favorite before-dinner snack was a peeled carrot, with maybe some green pepper spears on the side. The other parents were always amazed.
---
### Author:  [@Palewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palewriter)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/11 "2004-01-04T21:47:17Z")
My parents used the following subtle approach:
“You can’t leave the table until you’ve finished your boiled [insert tasteless vegetable here].”
I wouldn’t force my kids to eat their veggies. Now, two of them are vegetarians.
- PW
---
### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/12 "2004-01-04T22:04:29Z")
My son loved broccoli w/a little cheese melted on top. We’d go out to eat and waitresses would coo at him “we have applesauce or french fries”, and he’d reply “Do you have broccoli?”
(I was exceptionally fortunate).
Try a little cheese or ranch on top (but not peas - try cream sauce for that). Could do the ‘tree’ thing, or w/the peas ‘bobbing’ for them “count how many are on your spoon” (that way you can get her to hate math **and** vegetables! 😉 )
---
### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/13 "2004-01-04T22:21:35Z")
My parents also forced me to eat, I got to sit till they were gone, gagging or not ☹ Don’t do this, I am 27 now and only learning to eat vegetables! What has worked for getting this adult to eat veggies is to try lots of different veggies in lots of different forms. I won’t eat a slice of aubergine, but I will eat babba-ganoush (sp?). I won’t eat salad but I will eat tzaziki. I won’t eat raw tomatoes but sundried ones are good, etc.
---
### Author:  [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/14 "2004-01-04T23:15:30Z")
My parents put ketchup on most of my vegetables (carrots, green beans, and peas, for example). It took me _years_ to break that habit and eat them on their own. I never needed ketchup for corn or broccoli.
Salads are a similar story; it took me years to like salads without drowning the sucker in salad dressing.
---
### Author:  [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/15 "2004-01-04T23:17:35Z")
Cool Whip
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/16 "2004-01-05T00:08:09Z")
You must cast out the demon by ascertaining its name and exorcising it.
I don’t know why it is that demons have stopped giving their spawn traditional names like “Asmodeus,” “Belial,” or “Baalzephon,” in favour of faddish names like “But I don’t _like_ it,” “No Brussells Sprouts,” and “I Want Ice Cream,” but who are we to question the ways of entities that dwell in outer darkness?
---
### Author:  [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/17 "2004-01-05T01:13:26Z")
Haven’t had any problems with the youngin’s. They see what mom and dad eat. If they object because they haven’t tried it, we give them one, and if they don’t like it, that’s cool.
But the base rule is that everybody eats at least a little bit of everything, and after they see dad eat clams (which he likes ingesting as much as he likes dysentary, and they know it), they’re fine with it.
In fact, a high point of my life was taking my stepson (at 11) to the Colonial Tavern in Philadelphia and seeing him order rabbit. Unprompted. And enjoying them. (I didn’t let him see what I was thinking: “You’re eating Bugs!”)
I think it helps that we cook the veggies right: seven minutes steamed, followed up by butter/garlic/lemon juice (whatever’s handy). Melted cheese helps, too.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/18 "2004-01-05T03:17:14Z")
Does the **Scyllaette** like salads? My dad used to make me salads with tomatos, American cheese, red or green bell peppers, cucumbers and lettuce. With croutons on top and Creamy Italian dressing. I used to gobble them up like you wouldn’t believe.
(Hell, I still love salads-but nowadays I skip the peppers and put in chick peas rather than cukes).
There was a funny poem I read years ago:
I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on my knife
(Of course, peas should be eaten with a spoon. I love peas).
Does she like tomatos? Try calling them Tommy-Toes.
---
### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/19 "2004-01-05T04:08:56Z")
Look! It’s a tree!
It’s a big broccoli!
A broccoli tree
A big tree for ME
Chomp! through its trunk
Like a giant chipmunk
Chomp! on its top
Like a triceratops!
Peas look funny
Peas roll around
Hop like a bunny
MAke a "SQUSH
---
### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641/20 "2004-01-05T04:12:31Z")
Look! It’s a tree!
It’s a big broccoli!
A broccoli tree
A big tree for ME
Chomp! through its trunk
Like a giant chipmunk
Chomp! on its top
Like a triceratops!
Peas look funny
Peas roll around
Hop like a bunny
Make a “SQUSH!” sound
Peas look funny
Like a little green ball
Roll down to my tummy
Bounce around when I crawl
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-i-get-my-daughter-to-eat-vegetables/222641.md?page=2)