Does he EVEN eat BITTER GOURD ??? (Part 2)

I need to do part 2 of yesterday’s blog as I have few more things to ponder: how come some people can eat any veggies in any form,  while some cannot even eat their favorite veggies when they are cooked slightly differently than what they are used to?

Let us change gears a bit and reflect on the below conversation I had with my son while driving him to his allergy shots yesterday evening.  He had not read any of my blogs yet, and I wanted to show him yesterday’s blog and ask for his feedback especially because I mentioned him.  Are you ready to hear our conversation, I hope you will find it a bit amusing like me…

Me: Honey, you know I have started writing cooking blogs; I featured you in today’s blog…

Sanjay: I know!  What did you write today?

Me: I wrote about your love for all vegetables, do you want to read it?

Sanjay: Sure…

I then gave him instructions on how to open my phone and access the post.  He started reading, and after a few mins…

Sanjay: You lost me here Daddy!  Your blog is too long…  Also, there are some grammar mistakes, and in couple of areas, the sentence construct could have been done differently…

Me: Yeah, I noticed some mistakes after I sent it… (and we also chatted about how to change some sentence structure to make them more effective.  This went on for few mins…)

Me: Honey… I understand you are not my target audience, so you may feel it is a bit long!  Other than the grammar mistakes, do you have any feedback or comments?

Sanjay: Dad, you know I never researched on whether eggplant is rich in potassium… But I did research on other vegetables though and about their nutritional values…

Me: Oh really! Sorry Sanjay. I think that is OK.  You see that I wrote “as an example, let us say if I chose to cook eggplant on that day…”.  We don’t have to be very accurate when we write a casual blog like these. and it is also OK to jazz things up a bit!  Otherwise,  my blog will be very boring to read…

Sanjay: I hear ya!  One more thing Dad!

Me: Come on honey, I am listening…

Sanjay: I want to be REALLY honest with you. Do you know that I do not like all the vegetables you cook?

Me: WHAT??? I NEVER KNEW THAT!!! Every time I saw you eating all the veggies without complaining I thought you really love them…

Sanjay: No, I do not like all of them really, but I am fine to eat what you cook!

Me: I see.  Anyways I am glad you can eat all vegetables.  OK, do you have anything else to say?

Sanjay: Nope.

Me: What do you think about my blog?

Sanjay: Good.

Me: Thank you.

End of conversation.

Let us change gears (again)!  I want you to reflect upon couple of imaginary scenarios described below:

Scenario 1: It is your kid’s playdate.  You have cooked a nice lunch for the kids.  You are serving vegetables, and one of the kid sees your green beans sabzi, and says “Aunty, sorry, I do not want green beans. I will have chips”.  You ask why. Then she says “My mom cuts the green beans in a different shape, I like it that way only…”

Scenario 2: You are having a family get-together.  One of your uncle enquires about a dish you have cooked, you say it is Chayote Squash curry.  He goes like “What curry?”, and looks at his wife, and says he had never eaten that vegetable in his life and would not want to try it!  Scenario 2 can also have a pleasant twist if your uncle says “Chayote squash? I have never tried that, but let me try it…”.  He then tries it and likes it, and screams out loud to his wife why they have never tried that in their home…

Key takeaways from this:

1. If you really want everyone in your family to love more veggies than ever, it is not just enough if they like more types of veggies; they should also be exposed to different recipes (or cooking styles) for each veggie. This is a very important point to consider, I hope I explained it well… You need to teach yourself and your family to appreciate the same vegetable when cooked in different cooking styles!
2. You may have your favorite cooking method for each veggie (I do too).  But occasionally tread road less traveled and adopt different recipes for the same vegetable.  If you do so, your family will slowly start appreciating all vegetables in whatever form they are cooked/ available to them (or at least tolerate them like my son said he does…) at potluck parties, friends’ homes, restaurants etc.  There is no guarantee that everyone in the world will cook spinach the exact same way you do all the time: sauté finely chopped half onion with 3 cloves crushed garlic and cook with Himalayan salt for exactly 3 minutes!!!

Hope you enjoyed my kitchen tip of the day!