Most mothers – despite it all, feeding the little ones at home is almost always the mother’s task – usually complain that their children reject vegetables. And that rejection becomes more virulent after a certain age. In fact, mentioning vegetables for children sounds almost like an oxymoron. María Marqués, dietician-nutritionist, lactation consultant specialized in maternal and infant feeding and member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, corroborates this. “It is very common for children to show certain aversion to vegetables”.
The good news is that it is possible to reverse this trend. She gives us clues on how to give vegetables to children without sitting at the table becoming a drama.
Why don’t children like vegetables?
There are two factors that explain this or, at least, that should be considered. “On the one hand, the evolutionary moment in which the child is. Around the age of two, the food selectivity and the preference or rejection of certain foods. It is a natural and physiological phenomenon that is part of the child’s development. It is temporary and usually disappears around the age of 6,” says Marqués.
On the other hand, there could be a genetic reason. Rutgers University (New Jersey, United States) has conducted a study with preschool children in which they found “a genetic variation for bitter taste sensitivity.” Other researchers question this hypothesis, since “a single gene does not explain all taste preferences.”
In this sense, it is believed that the cultural and gastronomic traditions“as well as the experiences that are lived around food,” says Marqués.
Is the taste of vegetables, in general, difficult to learn to enjoy?
The dietician-nutritionist is clear in her response: “I don’t think so. The range of options is very wide. We have everything from the most bitter vegetables, such as endives or chard, to sweeter ones, such as pumpkin or carrots.”
Insist that babies are born with virgin palates. Throughout their development, they learn to relate to different flavors through exposure and experimentation. «He palate is educated. In the case of children, we have very fertile ground to work on the acceptance of vegetables, since they are in the period of establishing and strengthening their eating habits,” declares the expert.
Are there vegetables easier than others to introduce them to these foods?
The first thing to keep in mind is that some children will like more bitter foods and others will like sweeter foods. Although in principle pumpkin, carrot, green bean or tomato may be foods that are more easily accepted, there are flavors for all vegetables and vegetables for all tastes.
For this reason, the expert states that “the most appropriate thing is to offer a wide variety so that the little one can make their choices.”
Tips for children to eat vegetables
On paper, children will choose according to their own tastes. In real life, parents know that the day they touch spinach, broccoli or chard, there are many possibilities of borca on the table. The challenge is knowing how to give children vegetables without it seeming like a punishment and how to get a child to eat vegetables without negotiations, rewards or punishments.
- Educate by example. That children see from an early age that all members of the household consume a wide variety of vegetables, in diverse preparations, and they do so naturally and without drama.
- Involve children. Involve them in the shopping, the cooking, the choice of a recipe and the vegetable that is included or the presentation of a dish.
- Offer, but do not force. When you force yourself to eat a food, you are paving the way for generating a food aversion in the short and medium term. You have to think that the goal is not to eat the vegetable today, but to eat it for the rest of your life.
- Be realistic with the portion of vegetables that the child is expected to eat and adjust it to his or her preferences, hunger and the rest of the food in the meal as a first course, a side dish or as a single dish.
- rainbow plates. Try to offer vegetables of different colors, flavors and textures, and use various culinary preparations (oven, grill, batter, steam, etc.), to enrich the children’s sensory experience.
- Eat as a family. Meal timing goes beyond nutrition. It is a time of family, of sharing, of talking, and that does not happen when children come apart from adults.
What never to do to make him eat vegetables
When a child does not want to eat vegetables, it usually generates some frustration for families. Sometimes they opt for ‘uneducational’ options that may work at the moment, but are not a good option in the medium term.
- Put screens for him to eat. Screens put children on autopilot mode and they will eat food without really being aware. And since without screens they continue to reject food, it only creates a dependency on electronic devices.
- Bathe the vegetables with sauces to camouflage the flavor. Dipping in ketchup is not the same as cooking deliciously. When it is camouflaged we are tricking the child’s brain so that it does not realize that they are vegetables.
- Awards and blackmail. Food should not be the vehicle to achieve something external. Because then it stops being an end, and becomes a means.
Should they be punished if they don’t eat them?
“If you don’t eat them now, you’ll have them for dinner tonight” is the worst strategy to follow. Punishments with food are an unorthodox way to get them to eat the food now, “but it paves the way for them not to want to eat it for the rest of their lives,” says Marqués. “The experiences that children accumulate around a food are what will make that child and future adult decide whether to continue including that food in their daily choices or not.”
When faced with a child’s refusal, “it is preferable to learn to manage and accompany emotionally so that the child can carry out the process with love and calm. We should never force him to eat it. «If a child develops an aversion to vegetables by being forced to eat them out of his will, he stops eating them for the rest of his life and stops obtaining the real benefits of these foods,» explains the expert.
Recipes with vegetables for children
The expert proposes three infallible recipes to seduce the palate and visual experience of the little ones. Needless to say, the possibilities are endless. You just have to play with your imagination and seasonal products.
- Hulk pancakes: Simple pancake recipe to which we add spinach to give it a green color and we can fill it with cheese and nuts.
- Volcano erupting: Recipe for broccoli with potatoes that we flatten and form a mountain, making a hole in the center and spilling tomato sauce as if it were lava.
- chess skewer: Cherry tomato skewer with mozzarella balls.
The ALDI Council
Shopping with children can be quite a challenge. But if we involve the little ones from an early age in the purchase and encourage them to participate in the preparation of the food (picking the fruit from the fruit bowl, setting the table, adding salt…) it is easier for them to accept the food naturally.
Maria Marquis. Maternal and child dietitian-nutritionist. He is a member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Graduated in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Navarra, European Master in Nutrition and Metabolism from the same university. She has worked on research projects, such as the SUN study, the PREDIMED study and EVASYON, as a dietitian-nutritionist. She is the author and co-author of various scientific articles and collaborates as a popularizer in different media and magazines. She is the founder of the Maria Marqués Nutrición project, of the Koalacta.com online school and co-founder of the Hoy se come Podcast. She is also certified as a lactation consultant and has specialized in women’s nutrition, early childhood, and food allergies and intolerances. INSTAGRAM: @mariamarques.nutricion.
