Mom wasn't a cook when we were kids. Still isn't. "Vegetables" was a can of green peas. And she put them in EVERYTHING. Still can't stand the smell of them. When she married her second husband, he did the cooking. It was meat, potatoes, a plate of a variety of fresh vegetables and bread and butter on the table every night. I grew to love them.

I was a veggie hater. The farmer's market and gardening changed my mind. (And also the revelation that fat could be added to vegetables). Vegetables come in the most exciting colors that I never used to know about, and there is one organic vendor who just has the best quality produce ever. It's a whole different world from the supermarket stuff. Everything I've ever bought there has been good. I think people inherently like things more if they pick them out or grow them themselves.

I preferred vegetables over meat most times. Still do. The only vegetables I didn't like as a child were mushrooms and squash, and I like both now.

I'm in the same boat you are with our DS. He ate lots of veggies as a toddler. The only thing we couldn't get him to eat were mushrooms and spinach. But with each passing year he turns his nose up at more and more kinds of veggies. He's not nearly as adventurous as he was when he was smaller.

I have hope though. DH was a mildy fussy eater when we married, but he's getting better with each year.

I never met a vegetable I didn't like.

Sue

When I was a child , I didn't like squash(crook neck,spring type) or green peas. But as an adult I now like squash but only tolerate a few green peas in other foods like pot pie, but do not ask me to put a serving amount on my plate. I do not like mixed peas and carrots be cause of the amount of green peas in the carrots.

Yes!!!!! I hated vegetables as a kid and went out of my way to avoid them. The only thing I would willingly eat was corn which is not even a veggie! Oh, and tomatoes and potatoes. My mom always fed us iceberg lettuce salads so even though I didn't like them, I got used to eating salad. As for green beans, peas, carrots, squash, brocolli, cauliflower, cucumbers, radishes, onions, celery, and pretty much any other veggie you can think of I wouldn't touch. As you can probably guess, my diet was terrible as a kid. But I was always interested in food and cooking and as an adult, I've come to try and love things I never would have thought I would. My mom is always shocked when she comes to visit and I serve something like squash that I hated as a kid. To be honest, I still won't eat celery, raw onions, radishes, or green peppers but compared to my childhood, I've come a long way I think. My kids are pretty much the same way now except they will eat a few green veggies-I don't give them a choice though. At dinner the rule is you must try everything and finish your veggie and fruit. I'm hoping that by at least exposing them to different foods and setting a good example they will eventually come around like I did.

Tracey

I thought I disliked vegetables as a kid but realized later as an adult that I only like them prepared specific ways.
My favorite way to get lots of vegetables is a chopped, small dice salad. Spinach cut in ribbons, raw diced yellow squash, red pepper, appples, cucumber, nuts, grated carrot, cheese, asparagus, tomato....a mix of vegetables and tasty stuff like nuts and cheese.
I like most vegetables crunchy and flavored: salted, herbed, cheesed, etc.
Roasted, sliced, salted carrots that are brown and crispy are unlike any cooked carrot.
Greens barely wilted with garlic, evoo, vinegar and a dab of sugar.

When I was little I only liked field peas, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumbers, and breaded/fried eggplant and zuchini. I hated everything else. In about the 6th grade I started getting interested in fitness so I would force down green beans or broccoli - just couldn't force down the iceberg or tomatoes. Most of our veggies growing up came from a can. But, I was always willing to try things. If I liked something I certainly wasn't going to cheat myself out of it just to be stubborn. But, I was a little girl. Maybe it's a different thing for boys. Asserting their manhood and all that.

In my case, the availability of good fresh and frozen produce has increased over the years. Being in charge of my own kitchen changed things a lot as well. I started trying different things that I never even saw growing up and now there isn't a vegetable I don't like (except for beets), as long as it's prepared how I like it.

I was the pickiest kid of all time. The only vegetable I would eat was mashed potatoes - and oh! the fuss if there was the smallest lump in it! I was the despair of my mother - no wonder she went grey so early!

Now I'll eat almost anything - as long as it isn't pumpkin or turnip.

My kids (thank goodness) weren't really difficult with their veges. With both of them I devised a system which worked like a dream.

Rule 1: you MUST try everything on the plate! Even one mouthful was acceptable.

Rule 2: you are allowed to dislike 6 vegetables per week, and the list could change from week to week, and was kept on the fridge. During that week, Mother agrees not to serve anything that is on your list. BUT you must eat everything that is NOT on your list. Mother agrees to play fair and serve only tiny amounts of things she knows you really don't like, but aren't on the list.

It was a democratic system, and while there were often screwed-up faces at the table, there was rarely a fuss.

Like me, my grown-up kids will eat just about anything. Even pumpkin!!

I think my system would work with fussy dads, too. Dads are there to set an example, and if he has a list - well, like the kids, he has to follow the rules!

Growing up we didn't have a lot of veggies that I can remember. We were the typical midwestern 1960's family. A meat, pork chops, roast beef, roast pork or chicken with potatoes and a veggie, mostly corn, peas, carrots or green beans. Sometimes cauliflower, broccoli or brussels sprouts. I ate everything. The only thing I hated as a kid was onions. Funny thing is now I love 'em. But back then I would not eat anything if I found a slimy piece of onion in it.

My mom never made us eat anything we didn't want to. We had a choice...eat what was prepared or don't. But there was no substitute. Fortunately my dad was a big i c e cream guy and there was always a big bowl of i c e cream waiting at night!

Now I try to eat veggies as often as I can and I love to g a r d e n and fresh grown g a r d e n produce is the best. I could live without meat for sure, but would not want to do without fresh veggies, especially homegrown tomatoes, peas, beans, cukes, onions, carrots, etc. etc. etc.

Duane

I didn't like many veggies as a kid, my mother tended to cook the life out of them and her eggplant - best left alone.

I think a lot of vegetables are an acquired taste - one that develops as we become adults. A lot of vegetables I didn't like as a kid I like a lot now, and the basics of childhood - frozen peas, corn or carrots - I can do without.

I didn't have an artichoke until I was almost 30, and I love them, brussel sprouts - I'd sit at the table for hours before I'd eat one, but now they are one of my favorites. Same for mushrooms and broccoli and zucchini, etc.

I never forced my kids to eat and I don't do it with the grandchildren. My grandson loves red peppers and cucumbers, but not carrots or celery, and rarely eats cooked veggies. My granddaughter loves black olives. I figure when they are much older, we'll introduce them to some of the 'adult' veggies, probably at restaurants that prepare and present them interestingly well.

My SIL the vegetarian, hates vegetables, I think the only one he eats, other than potatoes, is broccoli.

A lot of vegetables are bitter. According to what I've read, there are three types of tasters: super, middle, and not so much. I think it's literally how many taste buds, plus some of the sinus/smell thing that's such a bit part of flavor. Supertasters hate bitter. They tend to hate coffee and grapefruit, even as adults. Those who don't have a lot of tastebuds like stronger flavors.

So many of one's choices as a child have as much to do with patterning on role models and controlling one's environment that flavor is not really the issue for most little ones. It becomes more and mroe important as they grow.

My mother didn't push vegetables. The vegetables were just there. I don't remember anything about them, eating them or not. I still don't like asparagus unless it's tiny and very firm, but I'll eat it if that's what's being served. I won't share the names I have for Brussels sprouts because I know some of you like them. As an adult, I love vegetables (except Brussels sprouts), and when I'm making a holiday meal I always have vegetables with the vegetables. Usually, I like them best cold and raw.

So sad about the role models who don't like veg! Maybe it's time to start a vegetable garden with the little one, and the steps too. Planting, tending and harvesting is a great way to learn to want to eat the vegies. I do remember planting carrots and corn, and eating the yield. And tomatoes and lemons and even a couple of potatoes, which resulted from a Sunday School project gone wrong.

plllog, my doc says I'm a super taster, but I love coffee and grapefruit.

However, I don't care for sour things or brined items like pickles, olives or artichokes, although I like cucumbers and artichokes fresh. I can also taste the preservatives on bagged vegetables and salads, and on the veggies at places like Subway, a strange metallic flavor.

I love vegetables, though, I always have. Like Duane, I grew up on a meat, a starch (mostly potatoes) and a vegetable at each meal. However, we always had a big variety of vegetables from the garden so our veggies was as likely to be brussels sprouts or rutabaga or beets as it was to be beans or corn.

I still love vegetables, except okra and big lima beans because okra is slimy and the lima beans are mealy. I'm not a huge fan of green salads either, although I like cooked greens. I don't hate them, I'll eat them, I just don't particularly care about them.

My kids both like vegetables and always did but my grandkids are pickier. David hates vegetables and will only eat corn and green beans, so the kids are following that example, I think.

Annie

When I was young I would only eat potatoes, corn and raw carrots. After I left home my tastes broadened (though my mother never ceased to marvel about it) and I eat pretty well anything except cucumbers.
When DD was small she ate anything but as she got older her tastes narrowed and she wouldn't eat vegetables at all. Can't blame DH for that as he eats all vegetables. Like me, her tastes have broadened since leaving home.

Okra is not slimy if it's fried. I do an oven fry (always using fresh okra)and it's super crunchy. No slime at all, that's a myth.
Some people don't like the flavor, of course, which is another thing all together.

My Dad and stepmother had a garden and I loved all the fresh beans and carrots, etc. My Dad loves to tell everyone how we had peas almost every Sunday ( I only saw him on Sundays) and how I hated them and tried to hide them everywhere...you couldn't have dessert unless you ate everything...um, why did you keep forcing peas on me if I didn't like them? That really bugs me when I think about it, if my kids didn't like a particular vegetable, so what, there are plenty of others...I didn't like mushrooms as a kid, still don't but I will cook with them and eat around them.

Thanks for all your replies! I am surprised how many of you have changed with no particular trigger. This gives me hope.

Every summer we try to grow veggies in our backyard but usually not very successful. First of all, our spring is too cold and summer too short. Not so many things will grow and mature before the weather gets too cold again. We had good success with carrots and spinach; these we had actually harvested when they were ready. We have tried potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, beets, etc but they were still too young for food by the time the first frost arrived. We managed to save some small potatoes and green tomatoes two years ago but consider the amount of time and work it's almost not worth it. Most importantly, little man is not even interested in planting, harvesting, or eating any of that!

The second reason we didn't get much out of our backyard in the past two years: we have a pocket gopher residing in our garden. We have tried everything including hiring an exterminator but obviously the pocket gopher out smarted all of us; we still have the darn thing in our backyard. It digs tunnels everywhere and eats almost every root under the soil. It was here last summer so we got zero from our crops, disappeared over winter, but now we see signs and tunnels again. :-(

While I don't expect hubby to change I still have hope that little man will come around one day. Meanwhile, I will continue to have veggies on the table. Maybe there will be miracle! :-)

Al

I loved vegetables as a child but didn't like meat and avoided dairy of any kind - for a good reason. But then I grew up on a farm and we had vegetables that the maid/cook grew for us on a patch of land that my father gave her for that purpose. She grew okra, turnips, collard greens, onions, potatoes, beans, squash, watermelon, and corn. Actually the corn was part of a different crop, but we still were able to harvest ears of corn before it got too hard. As a child, I enjoyed digging up potatoes because I never knew what I was going to find. I didn't like shucking corn for the same reason.

I've always loved vegetables of all kinds, but I only like certain types of fruits. I'm much more particular with fruits than I am with vegetables.

Lars

Tracey, DH sends you kudos for recognizing that corn is not a vegetable. He gets so tired of asking what the vegetable choices are to be told "corn, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes."

I thought I hated vegetables as a kid. What I actually hated was my mother's horrid cooking -- everything on high until brown khaki mush. (And she was one of those "you'll sit there until you eat every bite" sorts.) My grandmother was a far better cook, and she employed the Seven Year Rule and the rule of "If I put it on your plate you only have to taste it; if YOU put it on your plate, you better eat it or else."

I now love vegetables, with the exception of beets, collards and okra (and I want to like beets, so I keep trying.) The turning point was two-fold: I began cooking for myself, and I started working at a higher end restaurants that did veggies well.

Our family always had a big vegetable garden when I was a girl so we ate fresh vegetables all summer long and froze corn, green beans, sugar snap peas, etc. for eating in the winter months.

The only vegetables I can remember not liking were sweet potatoes, mushrooms and canned peas or carrots. Luckily my mother made frozen peas instead of the canned ones. I cannot stomach them even now.

I married a man who liked all kinds of vegetables except lima beans and as babies, our kids ate what we had for dinner, only thrown in the blender so they liked pretty much all vegetables except mushrooms, although they eat them now.

I never experienced the "I hate vegetables" club members until some of our childrens' friends ate at our house. I just served whatever we were having and if they ate it, OK; if they didn't, OK too but I didn't cook anything special for them.

As we get older, DH and I find ourselves getting tired of certain vegetables because we've eaten them for so many years in so many ways - corn and green beans are two we don't eat much anymore.

Al,
Dang. Maybe he's like the farmer's market? Maybe he's going through a growth spurt and is therefore wanting calorie-dense foods right now. I bet it'll all work out.

Hey, maybe I'm a super-taster...would that explain why I so loathed the taste of metal when I was a kid? A friend taught me to use chopstix in Junior High and I gave up using flatware for years afterward. I still avoid touching my fork or spoon with my tongue.

My brother and I were very active children, and my mother was on a very tight budget. When we sat down to eat, we were HUNGRY and tended to scarf down anything she put in front of us. There were a few things I would have rather starved than eaten, but that had more to do with the fact that my mother was a truly horrible cook than the food items themselves. Chicken & canned peaches....shudder. She made up plates rather than putting serving bowls out, and what was on your plate was generally all there was. No such thing as a substitute. I remember how shocked I was the first time I was at a friend's house and we were offered the choice of what was being served or hot dogs. (Actually, I would have preferred the roast chicken, but when my friend clamored for the hot dogs, I was too polite to demur).

Talking to my brother a while back, we did agree that we both absolutely loathed the canned spinach, drenched in vinegar...canned peas weren't much better. But we ate them. Happy times for us when my mother discovered that fresh or frozen vegetables were less expensive here in CA than canned (we moved here from the East coast when we were little) and she left off with the cans.

We did the brown bag thing to school, and lunch was generally a simple sandwich, a piece of fruit and some sort of vegetable snack...carrot or celery sticks, dill pickle, radish roses, black olives. Again, we were generally hungry enough to eat all of it, whatever it was. Yeah, I'd have preferred chips or some of the other crap my friends got, but those things were special treats in our house, not daily fare. Sometimes she'd bake a box cake, and we'd get a piece in our lunch (no frosting...to this day I like the cake better without the goo) or wheeeee! buy a bag of Mother's Cookies and toss a few in.

My mother's main idea was to make darn sure that we had balanced, healthy and inexpensive meals. So, we ate a lot of things my friends didn't eat...innards and other cheap cuts of meat. Working and raising two kids on her own, she probably would have preferred to use more convenience foods like potato buds, hamburger helper and canned foods, but they were too expensive so she made things from scratch.

Yes, I lusted after the Chef Boyardee my friends got...but my brother and I were both extremely healthy kids. Aside from the basic childhood diseases, we neither of us got sick anywhere near as often as our friends. Go figure.

When I was a kid vegetables were pretty much all we had. Meat and poultry was a two or possibly three times a week treat. I grew up loving the veggies from the garden. These days I can hardly wait to get fresh tomatoes, okra, corn, yellow squash, cucumbers, beets,cabbage and purple hull peas. I didn't grow up with winter squash and I'm still not a big fan. Probably disliked the most is broccoli.

Kids sometimes respond to the texture more than to the taste--my son did, and would eat any vegetable raw, but not cooked. Now, he'll eat just about anything, and he's a super-taster as well.
My mom opened cans, bless her little cotton socks, and I think canned vegetables are disgusting. Fortunately, my father loved to garden (on a cattle ranch, go figure?) and we did eat a lot of vegetables. I like 'em all.

Like many of you, I cannot imagine eating vegetables out of a can. Ideefixe, you're right on about texture. Crunchy veggies are definitely more appealing to the little man, even the big one.

Jess, I wish! It has been 4 years but he didn't seem to grow that much! LOL Yea, we take him to different farmer's market during the summer. He likes taking pictures of everything but shows no interest in eating any of it.

Hubby and little man will eat vegetables ONLY when I make veggie soup. Have to puree everything until they can't see any signs of vegetables. Or, I make meatloaf in a crock pot & mixed a lot of finely chopped vegetables in with the meat. Veggies have to be so fine that the two boys cannot pick them out. I've tried veggie pizza, a recipe that makes most kids happy, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Little man ate one piece (just to make me happy) then "thanks mom, I have enough".

Al

bumblebeez, I hate to tell you this, but I think okra is slimy, even when fried. The flavor is fine, but the texture puts me off.

My ex-MIL was from Kentucky, she said the same thing, and then she fried okra. It was slimy. Elery insisted that it just wasn't cooked right and he made some. It was still slimy.

He ate some and insisted that it wasn't, but it was. Not as slimy as the ex-MIL's, but still slimy enough that I just don't like the texture.

I did have some that wasn't slimy, it was frozen, breaded and then baked. Overbaked, it was crunchy/hard, LOL, but it wasn't slimy. It would have been better slimy...

Annie

Tastes vary among people (just as eating philosophies do), and at different stages of an individual's life. I think it's very unfair to insist that my family eat what I put on their plates just because I like it or it's good for them. If a kid doesn't want to eat something, so be it. One of my sons ate practically nothing but peanut butter and jelly for years and has grown into a fine, fit gourmet cook whose two young kids love vegetables even though their mom won't go near them!

Don't give up hope, althetrainer. Your son will grow up liking vegetables, or he won't.

Sherry

I chuckled at that okra stuff. I don't think I've ever eaten it, but I read about it when I was picking out seeds for the garden and it sounds just awful.

Doesn't seem fair, Al! Having children sounds stressful!! I don't get it-- they should just do what's good for them, shouldn't they?!

Just tell them they can't have veggies, that they're for adults only... LOL

Rita O'Tay

Al, have you looked into hydroponics?

Something else to think about is the "icky". There are two kinds of non-weird foods I won't eat: ones that are "icky" and ones that I just don't like. Over time I've learned that the ones that taste "icky" are ones I'm seriously allergic to. I just don't like olives, except the little ancient ones that have practically no flesh (don't love those, just don't hate them). I don't like paella when it's cooked with the olives in it because the rice tastes bad. I don't like EVOO because it tastes like olives. But I'm not allergic. Coconut is "icky". Some months ago I thought I surely wasn't that allergic (even though I regularly spit out things with shredded coconut in them) and partook of a very delicious Thai curry made with coconut milk. And my face went numb as if I'd eaten "icky" fish and I got nauseus. You can disguise the "icky" but that doesn't prevent the anaphylaxis!

If a kid is very resistant, it's probably a good idea to make sure it's not because it's making her/him sick.

Rita, I did just that with my nephews (who seem to exist solely on junk food and are pickly about even that!). You know what? They started asking to try things.

Forcing a kid to eat everything on his plate when s/he's clearly said s/he doesn't like it can backfire. My mother finally stopped doing it after she realized that, in spite of her yelling and threats, I was as stubborn as she was. There was many a night when I was still sitting there at midnight because I was NOT going to eat turnip greens or liver. Whether we didn't have a good relationship because of that or if that was just one aspect of an already bad situation, I don't know, but it became a real battleground.

On the other hand, I adamantly would NOT cater to a child's whims like some personal short order cook. I know people who do that and cook two or three different meals a night because of picky eaters. "This is what's for dinner. Take one bite. If you still don't like it, you know where the PB&J is, and make sure you clean up after yourself."

Thanks everyone. I know it's not going to be easy.

Sherry, I have given up on my husband but I still have hope for little man. He's only 8 and I am sure he has plenty of time to come around.

Jess, they certain should. We can only wish! LOL

Plllog, I did look into hydroponics but the closest thing we can do for now is using the Aero Garden. Can't do the real hydroponics due to space problems. The only "icky" food, I believe, that bothers little man is over ripe strawberries. Said they made his throat funny. I always give him very firm strawberries. Most vegetables are not icky but more so yucky to him. He got that from his dad and his half brother. Asked him why he didn't like mushrooms he said they're gross. The exact words from his half brother. He's proud to NOT eat anything green but frozen peas because that's how his dad is. So I know, he's just copying them. I will try to be patient for now. Still serve a few pieces of veggies on his plate. Ask him to take one bite and never forceful or anything in that nature.

Rita, that's a great strategy if he will fall for it! The last time he saw me preparing some vegetables and asked whose dish it was. I said "Nope, this is not for you. You don't get any of this!" He said "YAY!" LOL

Bean, I don't consider myself forceful. I do have a one bite rule at our dinner table. He is asked to take at least one bite. If he doesn't like it he can just leave it after one bite. I am frustrated because his desire for vegetables gets less and less every day. Now he has carrot on his will-eat list. I am afraid it will, too, come off the list.

But again. This is not the end of the world. My husband hates veggies all his life and after 50 something years he's still strong and kicking :-). I just have to keep hoping.

Al

Okra can be slimy of course but to me it's not cooked properly. I won't eat it if it's slimy. Frozen okra is horrible and I never use it.
I feel like I'm on a mission to overcome the myth that it is always gross! The first time I had it at my mil's, it was light, crunchy and dry and I realized it was delicious!
Most okra, even in season here at produce stands, is already past prime.
The pods should be hard and have not brown spots at all.

I've always loved vegetables, even as a child. Spinach, beets, beet tops, asparagus,broccoli, squash, mushrooms, peas, etc.. Except for the dreaded carrots and parsnips which I still dislike I can't think of another vegetable that I don't like.

The only vegetables that Matthew doesn't like, that I'm aware of is mushrooms and carrots. He told me recently that he keeps trying mushrooms but still doesn't like them. I can't think of any vegetable that Moe doesn't like.

Ann

My oven fried okra isn't the least slimy either. It too is light, crunchy and dry and I've also learned how to cook frozen okra the same way. I obhor the frozen, breaded okra stuff like you get in southern restaurants and also frozen, breaded okra.

I like boiled okra too if a teaspoon of vinegar is put into the boiling water to remove the slime. Of course Annie would still think that is slimy because of the mush factor.

Althetrainer, strawberries and pineapple make my and my daughter's mouths and throats "bloom' whether they are ripe or not. That's probably what little man means. Though I love them, I seldom eat them because it is just too uncomfortable for me. Believe me, I am an eater! I try them frequently; occasionally one will not bother me. I'm in heaven those days.

Also, honey makes my teeth hurt, so I stay away from that, too.

My SIL says fruits and vegetables all have a very bitter taste for him. He doesn't eat them. When his little dtr was seven or eight months old and just beginning to eat food, she refused all fruit and vegetables - every bite, every time, from the very first bite. She is seven now and still does not eat any fruit or veggie except bananas because they "burn my mouth." I believe her.

Sherry

Sherry, I know that feeling too, I get it from pomegranite, just a couple of bites and my mouth is too sore to eat any more. Pineapple does that a little bit, but I have to eat a lot of it, so does kiwi.

Beverly, I'm sure you're right, okra just has a texture that I can't get past. I've had it baked, I've had it fried, I've had it pickled, I've had it in gumbo. I just don't like it, although the flavor is OK, it just feels too icky. I'm the same way with bananas, they just feel so nasty in my mouth that I cannot swallow them.

Annie

Sherry, isn't that interesting!? The only veggies I didn't like, as a kid, were the ones with very strong flavor i.e. parsley, cilantro, and celery etc. I love celery now but I only eat it cooked. Raw celery is still too strong to my taste, the sort of burn-my-mouth thing.

I don't use honey in my hot drink because it does give it a funny raw taste. I use it in my cooking though. The only thing that gives me toothache is milk chocolate. It has nothing to do with allergies; just that I have bad teeth. When the sweetness gets inside my cavity it hurts! LOL

Little man used to eat all sorts of vegetables. When he was a toddler with only a few teeth in his mouth he would eat anything green. I remember taking him to a friend's open house where raw broccoli was served. Little man saw broccoli and made his way to the veggie tray, picked up a piece of raw broccoli and started to gnaw at it. With just a few teeth it was a heck lot of work for him to eat but he didn't give up until he finished the whole thing. The other guests who were watching him thought it was very funny.

We used to take him to visit my in-laws. Being British, my MIL is one of those who likes to boil everything until it falls apart. She does so with vegetables as well. Unlike my husband, Little man never minded boiled veggies. He would pile up the vegetables on his plate and eat ALL of them before eating anything else. He also used to eat mushrooms, raw or cooked. Then he began to limit himself to mushrooms on pizza. These days he won't touch any mushrooms because they are "gross".

Al

Al, I wonder if a taste test would work? Blindfold the little man and the half-brother and have them taste test various things. Guess what they are and rate them. Include a couple of vegetables that aren't too different in texture to your other things (i.e., not peanut butter vs. jicama, maybe apple vs. carrot). Make it a game.

I don't think I ate any veggies other than cucumbers, pickles, tomatoes, potatoes (fried) and corn till I was 20?

Love them now though.

Plllog, funny you mentioned that. When little man was 6, one of his eyes began to hurt while watching a show. He didn't know how to close just one eye so I had to wrap both of his eyes to prevent him from opening both. It was just dinner time and he still had the bandage over his eyes so I ended up feeding him. I put something into his mouth and asked "Do you know what it is?" Nine out of 10 times he couldn't tell; but he ate every bite of his dinner. :-) Now, he's older and he doesn't let me trick him anymore. When he doesn't know exactly what's on his plate, he applies this "when in doubt, throw it out" rule. :-(

Well, stepson is now 22 and he has moved to live with his mother. Even if he was here he would never eat whatever I suggested, let alone letting me blindfold him! LOL

Al