Laura B. - lima beans *Chanda

[Guest guest]

Chanda,

    I'm full of stories!  LOL!

 

    Here's another one:

   

    When my DH (dear husband) was very young, his mom took him to a woman who

had a " home daycare " .  This was way back in the late 50's, early 60's.  The

daycare " Teacher " , as she insisted on being called, was a no-nonsense woman of

German ancestry.  My DH loved (or perhaps was in awe of) " Teacher " , and she had

a policy at meal-times that the children in her care had to " try one bite " of

evey food being served. She cooked the meals at the daycare and didn't use

convenience food, though most of the vegetables were canned.

 

    In his family of origin, " food " meant about 8-10 items: 3 kinds of meat

(overcooked and tough), 3 kinds of potatoes (not the ones with cheese), corn,

creamed corn (canned, unless it was " on-the-cob " ), green beans (DH and his dad

ate those), and white bread.  They ate

fruit (with syrup or sugar, canned, or in " cobbler " at the grandparents'), and

dessert stuff like " cakes " .  It was bland, non-fiber foods and over-processed. 

FRESH vegetables or fruits almost never showed up on their dinner table.

 

    So, one day, at daycare, the " Teacher " served cooked asparagus--the mushy,

icky stuff out of a can.  She insisted on the " one bite " rule during lunchtime,

and my DH balked at this.  He declared he HATED asparagus and would not eat it. 

I don't know whether the woman actually FED a " bite " to him or whether he

actually did this on his own.  (Knowing him like I do now, I highly doubt he

would have voluntarily taken that " one bite " .)  However it happened, my DH did

get that one " bite " into his mouth, only to spew it out when he tried to swallow

the mushy, slimy canned asparagus..  YUCK!

 

    Before we married (32 years ago last week), my fiance informed me of all the

" weird foods " he WOULD NOT eat--I should not even TRY to get him to eat them:

broccoli, cucumbers, cauliflower, beets, spinach, squash, and, of course,

asparagus.  He now LIKES broccoli, cauliflower, and will eat " squash " if I make

it like a pie or put small pieces of either summer or winter squash in stews or

soups.  He still won't touch cucumbers in a salad, but will grudgingly eat

spinach leaves raw in salads--forget cooking fresh, tender spinach for him. 

Beets...well, he HAS eaten them, but still doesn't think they are " all that " .

 

    Just last week, however, he called me from a grocery store and told me they

had " lots of really nice veggies here... "   I asked him to get me a bunch of

green onions and then to " pick out 2 or 3 veggies that you like to bring home " . 

He brought home--guess what?

ASPARAGUS!  He actually LOVES it if it's FRESH and nicely-steamed!  He also

recently wanted to try the purple asparagus--so I have some to fix for supper

tonight. 

 

    How about THAT for a turn-around?  He still won't try lima beans, although

he had a mixed bean " barbecue beans " dish at a friend's house and then I also

made it at home--he loves it and it has his 3 " I hate them " beans: kidney, lima

and garbanzo beans. Funny how foods are cooked and/or seasoned can make all the

difference!

 

   I try not to " force " the issue with any food that DH thinks he won't

eat--just make some for me and say he can " sample " if he likes.  I usually make

maybe a sandwich of egg salad or have something left-over he can have warmed up

if he doesn't like the main stuff I'm having.  Who knows?  Maybe someday we'll

enjoy eggplant together!

 

    Peace and blessings!

 

--Laura B., in Illinois

 

 

Re: Laura B. - lima beans

    Posted by: " Puterwitch " puterwitch mariapclady

    Sun May 10, 2009 4:35 pm ((PDT))

 

 THis proves my theory, do not force a kid

to eat what they don't like and they may like it someday.

 

)

blessings,

Chanda

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

[Default] On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:44:10 -0700 (PDT), " L.B. "

<elbee577 wrote:

 

>Funny how foods are cooked and/or seasoned can make all the difference!

 

What an enjoyable and instructive story! I remember when my mom tried to

force me to eat her overcooked and slimy zucchini. She boiled it to

death, with a little salt and pepper. I never have understood why cooks

of my mother's generation had to turn vegetables to mush. Maybe it had

something to do with home-canning because I recall my mom boiling

home-canned green beans given us by a friend an extra ten minutes before

serving them, " Just to be on the safe side. "