I am the mother from hell, at least when it comes to mealtimes. Not that I’ve always been like that. I’ve done my time of arranging the little darlings’ supper into charming animal shapes, of secreting vegetables in meatballs and whimsically calling broccoli “trees”. And I’ve succumbed many times to baked beans or buttered pasta.
You might think that a food writer would have children who tuck into platefuls of Swiss chard and artichokes with gusto, never mind the more mundane delights of carrots and cauliflower. Can you hear my hollow laughter? Vegetables… Well, let’s just say I was driven to check a seven-year-old Hector for the early symptoms of scurvy.
True, I could console myself that there is evidence that many fussy children are in fact “super-tasters”, with a more acute sense of taste than most, which means that a tiny trace of bitterness can seem overwhelming.
But even without the health implications, I believe that being a picky eater is rude. If there are guests, it’s tiresome for the host, who may feel obliged to rush around finding an alternative. It’s also unforgivably critical of their cooking skills. Turning up their noses to lovingly cooked food at home is rude. That matters too. So I’ve got tough. The children are not allowed to say they don’t like anything, vegetables especially, until they have eaten a mouthful on 24 separate occasions.
This isn’t cruelty, it’s based on good evidence. Eating the broadest possible range of fruit and – especially – vegetables is vital to good health, but children have to learn to love them.
We are not born with a natural inclination to experiment. Children have a tendency to neophobia, fear of the new, which is why so many claim not to like tomatoes, say, and then admit that they have never tried them. But a study by Prof Jane Wardle, at University College London’s Health Behaviour Unit, showed that giving children a small taste of a new food every day for two weeks accustomed them to the flavour, and to an increased intake and liking for the food.
Dr Susan Jebb, who heads the Human Nutrition Research centre in Cambridge, agrees that persistence is the key. “If they don’t like something, don’t try again in a month. Try again tomorrow.” My insistence on a whole mouthful is pushing it though. “A tiny taste, the size of your fingernail, is enough. It will take a while, but don’t give up.” Parents of vegetable-hating children can take comfort that they are far from alone. The average child struggles to reach three portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Only 20 per cent are eating the recommended minimum of five a day. And, as Jebb says: “Five is enough, but more is better.”
To encourage vegetable eating, it’s important to stick to a regular schedule of mealtimes, with eating in between kept to a minimum. That said, smaller children do need a little snack in the morning and afternoon. “But make it a planned snack, not grazing,” Jebb advises. It doesn’t have to be a chocolate biscuit either. Fruit or vegetable sticks with a yogurt or piece of toast would be healthier and just as sustaining.
Main meals need to be taken at the table and as a family. Adults need to toe the line. “If you don’t eat vegetables, your child won’t either,” Jebb says. Peer role models help too, so invite friends around who are good eaters. Don’t offer alternatives if food is rejected. My maxim is: “I offer two choices at dinner. Take it or leave it.” Jebb agrees that unless your child is “failing to thrive”, a medical phrase that loosely means not putting on weight as they grow, then missing an occasional meal is not a disaster. “But don’t give them a bar of chocolate afterwards,” she adds. You will have to put up with moaning before the next meal. But they might even eat it.
Jebb insists that children need some say in what they are eating, or they may become fussy as a means of taking charge. “Offer them broccoli or courgettes, but not vegetables or no vegetables. It’s about a degree of control, not unfettered choice.” It’s worth taking a tip from the French, who routinely present vegetables as an hors d’oeuvres.
A study by Dr Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University showed that children will eat more vegetables if they are given them as a first course. It may be that they are more hungry, or just that they don’t get distracted by the meat and potatoes element. Either way, it works.
I’m not talking about an elaborate first course. A simple sliced tomato, a little plate of steamed and buttered beans, a mound of grated carrot dressed with vinaigrette is all. Then you can move on to the main event, ideally with some more vegetables. The idea is that the children should learn that a meal is incomplete without veg.
Above all, as Jebb says: “Don’t give up.” I spotted Hector going for second helpings of salad the other day. Result.
How much is a portion of vegetables?
There are no official rules, but as a guideline:
