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How do enjoy veg?

37 replies

Nosferatussidebit · 08/09/2021 15:19

I don't like veg. I eat it because I know I should buy I really really don't enjoy it and eat as little as possible.

I'd like to eat more veg and more importantly I'd like to enjoy it.

Is it just a case of eating more and it'll grow on me? I tolerate some veg more than others (carrots and sprouts make me heave, broccoli and green beans are ok).

I'm a good cook but I know some people enjoy simply prepared veg, just steamed and seasoned but I really don't. We eat at good restaurants and I don't enjoy it there either.

What's the secret to enjoying vegetables? Or is it something you are born liking?

OP posts:
AuntieMarys · 08/09/2021 15:22

I adore veg! Key for me is not overcook, look online for interesting things to do with them...I love roasted with lots of spices. I make veggie chilli and Thai curry with at least 9 different vegetables.

LawnFever · 08/09/2021 15:26

I just find that all veg are different, so I don’t really lump it all together - it’s perfectly normal to prefer some things to others.

I wouldn’t eat something I really didn’t like, I do tend to enjoy most veg but if I didn’t I’d just eat the ones I liked.

The other option is adding veg to other dishes, like into a tomato sauce or mix into other meals

Nosferatussidebit · 08/09/2021 15:30

@LawnFever

I just find that all veg are different, so I don’t really lump it all together - it’s perfectly normal to prefer some things to others.

I wouldn’t eat something I really didn’t like, I do tend to enjoy most veg but if I didn’t I’d just eat the ones I liked.

The other option is adding veg to other dishes, like into a tomato sauce or mix into other meals

The issue with this I don't like any veg. I tolerate a bit of some veg, but I don't like or enjoy it. If I ate veg I liked I'd be limited to corn on the cob.

I find putting veg in sauce makes the sauce taste of the veg, not the veg taste of sauce, even curry.

I do know that there's a small group of people for whom veg has an overwhelming taste, and I suspect I'm in that group. I was wondering if there was anyway to overcome it really.

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DadsTrilby · 08/09/2021 16:08

Have you tried all different ways of cooking it? I won’t eat boiled sprouts or parsnips but can eat a ton of both if they’re roasted. Cauli is meh unless roasted with spices. Carrots are nicer raw!
I never really ate veg until I was 30 but love veg now, I think my taste buds changed or I forced so much down my taste buds accepted it. Now there’s not much veg I won’t eat.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 08/09/2021 16:13

Cauliflower cheese?
Cauliflower steaks with lemon and pepper?
Kale crisps done in the oven?
Raw carrots instead of cooked? ( Ds will only eat them raw)

Keep eating veg, your taste buds will change.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 08/09/2021 16:16

I only started eating tomatoes at 36, they'd make me gag until thenConfused

Mariell · 08/09/2021 16:22

Tomatoes, cucumber and beetroot, I mainly cannot stand and I’m not keen on carrots.

I love asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, especially raw, peppers and of course potatoes!

Roasted vegetables are lovely (for me) with pasta, salads and with bread.

What I have found is that I enjoy my food so much more since I reintroduced salt and season my food, it makes a huge difference in taste as I spent a blandless decade of not adding salt to my meals.

1990s · 08/09/2021 16:24

Butter. On anything.

leavesthataregreen · 08/09/2021 16:24

Try different ways of cooking it. Carrots roasted in a small amount of melted butter will taste sweeter than if they are steamed or boiled.

kale cut into squares and tossed in sesame oil, garlic and chilli then slowly cooked until crisp takes entirely different to boiled or steamed.

Could you manage small amounts in a smoothie? carrot with apple, clementine and ginger?

Hide courgette or beetroot in chocolate brownies like we do for children.

Finely grate fennel and red onion into minced pork with beaten egg and breadcrumbs to make burgers.

Do you like dips? Could you add red pepper to humous dip or eat fresh guacamole with corn chips?

user1471453601 · 08/09/2021 16:26

I've found its a question of how the veg is cooked.

My weekend treat is a prawn stir fry. It includes any or all of the following:
Ginger (yes I know it's not a veg) garlic, shallots, peppers, courgettes, tomatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, lettuce, sugar snap peas. In fact,just about any veg hanging around in the fridge. It's quick, easy and would be healthy, if I didn't add lashings of toasted sesame oil.

Otherwise, I can take or leave veg. I don't actively dislike it, but I can quite happily eat a meal with no veg

SpamIAm · 08/09/2021 16:28

Most things are better roasted. And I'd go over cooked rather than less cooked because then they're soft and you can just get them down without having to chew and taste them too much.

Not a veg lover.

Things like onions, mushrooms, celery etc in any sauce you make is a good start.

IToldYouIWasFreaky · 08/09/2021 16:39

@1990s

Butter. On anything.
And garlic! I remember a TV chef, possibly Hugh F-W doing a programme where he was trying to get kids to eat and enjoy veg and the trick seemed to be serving everything with garlic butter. It's hard to think of a veg that it wouldn't improve TBF.
sofakingcool · 08/09/2021 16:44

I love vegetables in all way shape or form, but my favourite is to stir fry

NerrSnerr · 08/09/2021 16:49

I'm a vegetarian who isn't keen on vegetables. I find spinach a good one to add to things like curries and sauces (I buy frozen spinach). I have to force myself to eat veg though but find stuff made properly, in proper recipes is ok so I search recipe books for stuff that looks ok and make that. I don't like vegetables by themselves though.

LizzieSiddal · 08/09/2021 16:52

I don't like or enjoy it.

I’m the same! I do eat it though as I know it’s good for me, so I eat it on the same fork full as the other things I’m eating, which I usually do like.

I do prefer my veg roasted with oil, garlic and a few herbs, so I try to do that most days.

grey12 · 08/09/2021 17:03

I adore veg! Key for me is not overcook

@AuntieMarys I was going to say the opposite Grin don't understand people's obsession with "al dente" everything!!! I much prefer well cooked vegetables. My kids even eat brussel sprouts!!!! Well cooked, either steamed or roasted.

grey12 · 08/09/2021 17:04

@SpamIAm

Most things are better roasted. And I'd go over cooked rather than less cooked because then they're soft and you can just get them down without having to chew and taste them too much.

Not a veg lover.

Things like onions, mushrooms, celery etc in any sauce you make is a good start.

That's not the reason Wink when they are well cooked they are sweeter! Cooking starts breaking down the food
Boomkin · 08/09/2021 17:05

You’re an adult - you have to do things you don’t like because they’re good for you. Eat your veg. Brush your teeth. Go to work. Etc.

grey12 · 08/09/2021 17:06

You can also drizzle a little honey on roasted vegetables Grin

3beesinmybonnet · 08/09/2021 17:12

I used to see veg as the boring stuff I had to eat because it was good for me. Then we bought Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Veg Every Day and we went from worrying we might pass out if we didn't have meat one night to being almost vegetarian. He makes the veg the star instead of an afterthought. Maybe try some of his side dishes to begin with.

Shelddd · 08/09/2021 17:13

When I was a kid I hated veg but I realise now as an adult it was the veggies my parents were feeding us. It was always pees, carrots, corn, broccoli. All of these are pretty boring and don't have a lot of flavour.

I wonder if you have a similar situation as you mentioned 4 very bland blah vegetables.... you need to incorporate more of the tasty vegetables into your diet.

Some tasty vegetables include:
Courgettes
Bell Peppers
Asparagus
Mushrooms (I realise not everyone likes mushrooms)
Sweet Potato

Go with Pea Shoots & Lamb Lettuce rather than the bitter greens

Also remember to use your aromatic vegetables they add a lot of flavour (and nutrition) to dishes. Carrots, onions, celery, garlic.

Adding herbs to vegetables helps a lot, as does a little bit of olive oil or butter. Just buy mixed italian herbs if you're not sure what herbs to use... that works quite well on vegetables.

I find cooked (mostly roasted) vegetables are easier and tastier to eat than raw vegetables.

LouNatics · 08/09/2021 17:22

Vegetables aren’t one homogeneous mass. The variety is huge, types, textures, colours, tastes, then add different cooking methods and methods of preparation and the varieties are endless.

Are you meaning - all vegetables, like all salad vegetables, all legumes, leafy green, roots, alliums, fungi, etc? Cooked in every way - raw, blanched, mashed, creamed, deep or shallow fried, steamed, boiled, roasted, grilled, pickled, charred, made into noodles, patties, fritters, cakes, sauces, stews, curries, casseroles, salsa, salads, preserves, chutneys, just a few here but so many ways!

Have you tried a good variety eg not just cabbage, carrots, broccoli, peas sweet corn. So easily available but less obvious choices, like edamame beans, yellow split peas, patty pan squash, artichokes, shallots, alfalfa sprouts, kohlrabi, endive, radishes?

What about fresh herbs? Coriander, chives, parsley, basil? Do you like chillies, garlic bulbs, lemongrass? Seeds - pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, or something like nigella seeds?

BrilloPaddy · 08/09/2021 17:27

We have a weekly organic veg box, and that's a really good way of trying different seasonal produce. I've had to google how to cook some of it Blush I haven't actually found anything yet that I don't like but I'm vegeterian anyway so veg is the bulk of my diet.

Camomila · 08/09/2021 17:34

Or is it something you are born liking?

Maybe, I can't remember ever not wanting to eat my vegetables as a DC (unless mushrooms or a pureed soup), it was always meat I didn't want to eat from my dinner.

Now as an adult I still love most vegetables, I do eat some meat but could take it or leave it (and avoid pork and lamb).

minipie · 08/09/2021 18:30

How about soup? Especially those with stock, butter, cream, spices, or maybe cheese as these will add a different non veggy flavour.

Just thinking if it’s partly the texture you don’t like, then soup sorts that out.

My sister eats almost no veg and has various health issues - I think you do have to force them down really. There are also supplements you can take based on highly concentrated green veg, but they aren’t as good as the real thing.