I just saw this Chef Boyardee commercial, and it really ticked me off.
It made me really consider the practice that some parents feel they have to resort to of hiding veggies from their kids. Is it OK to hide vegetables in other foods to get your kids to eat them? It’s not an easy question to answer.
Usually, from what I’ve seen, parents have only the best intentions when they pick up copies of The Sneaky Chef or Deceptively Delicious and start making black bean brownies and cauliflower mashed potatoes. Those parents are concerned about their kids. They’re worried that their children’s preferences and eating habits aren’t providing them with the kind of nutrition they need. It’s the same idea behind kids’ multivitamins and those Pediasure drinks that claim to fill in the gaps a picky eater might have when it comes to nutrition.
But I think it’s incredibly important to consider the implications of those sorts of tactics.
Beans or brownies?
Let’s say we whip up a batch of black bean brownies and feed them to our children. The kids are happy to scarf them down, and mom is happy because the kids got a dose of protein and fiber with their snack.
But what have the kids learned from this snack?
Have they learned to like beans? Probably not, because the brownies are designed to mask the flavor and texture of the beans and eliminate anything even remotely beaney. They’ve learned to like brownies (which, at least in my house, we don’t need much help with!).
Have they learned to make a healthy choice for a snack? Again, probably not. If mom isn’t giving them her usual lecture about treats being treats, etc., they may start to think that brownies are an acceptable choice for an everyday snack. Maybe that’s fine at home, where the brownies are full of beans, but what happens when they choose brownies at a friend’s house, at a school bake sale, in the cafeteria line, or at a coffee shop? It’s not teaching them to make the best choices overall—especially if the distinction is never made for them that the brownies at home are “healthy” and other brownies aren’t.
If the kids willingly eat something with hidden veggies—whether that’s brownies, mac and cheese, Chef Boyardee, or whatever—but don’t know there are veggies in it, then all the parent is doing is reinforcing the child’s love of those less desirable foods. It might be helping the acute problem a little bit (of the child’s lacking nutrition), but it’s not tackling the root of the problem at all.
Where’s the trust?
Another big issue for me is the issue of trust. What happens when the child finds out that there is butternut squash in her macaroni and cheese? I could easily see it becoming a major trust issue, depending on the nature of the child. Will she be willing to eat anything home made after that? Will she be upset and angry?
I’m not sure a few tablespoons of squash in the cheese sauce are really worth the potential fallout here. And in most of these “sneaky” recipes, the ratio of vegetable to the rest of the portion is pretty low. It has to be for the vegetable to remain a secret.
A good first step.
But what if you discuss the veggies with your kids? If you tell them that there are beans in the brownies or cauliflower in the mashed potatoes—and they like it anyway—I think that could be a great first step towards acceptance of a heretofore abhorrant veggie. Introducing a vegetable in a non-threatening way, mixed almost imperceptibly with other foods, could be a very good tactic to get picky and reluctant eaters to try something new.
The most important thing to remember here, though, is that it is only the first step—meaning, you’ve got a few more steps to go!
- Make a hidden veggie dish and, when your child likes it, talk about the vegetables in it.
- Gradually increase the ratio of the new veggie in that and similar dishes. Talk about the taste, the texture, the aroma, etc.
- Offer small portions of the veggie by itself, maybe with an appealing sauce, and remind kids how much they like it in other things.
As long as you use the hidden veggies as a stepping stone, this tactic could be a great tool in your arsenal against picky eating.
But it has to be just one tool of many, because picky eating is a HUGE problem that isn’t magically going to be solved by a brownie full of beans.
Great post! I totally agree! My kids are pretty good eaters, and I think it is because I offer them the veggie in question over and over again. What do they say about kids needing to exposed to a new food 14 times before they’ll like it? There are veggies my kids don’t like, and thats ok too…there are veggies I don’t like!
What I do like about the sneaky chef style recipes is that it gives me an opportunity to increase the amount of nutrients in all of our diets. My kids eat such a small quantity of food, that I need more bang for my buck! I’m always going to serve a veggie in its whole form as a side dish, but if I can get something into the main dish too and it still taste good..great! (no spinach in my brownies please!)
Love your site! I can’t wait to browse around more!!
Thanks Megan!
I think your approach to the “sneaky” veggies is a good one. It’s a nice compliment to serving whole veggies—not a replacement. Good on you! Do you talk to your kids about putting extra veggies in their main dish?
While I have never put beans in brownies I put liver in tons of things. I also have cooked mashed/chopped green and yellow veggies that I have frozen in icecube trays that I add to soups and sauces etc. (kale, winter squash etc.) My kids are fully aware that I do this and other weird things -purslane in the succotash last night ;o) I just don’t share if they don’t ask. I also use all sorts of white potato-ee looking veggies like turnips or yellow beets in stews. My kids were older when I started down the real food path and their taste buds were already set in a lot of ways. It is a slow process. They don’t mind the veggies as long as it isn’t crazy obvious. We are all learning. I don’t post an ingredient list for anything I make so as far as they know – kale is supposed to be in lasagna and also butternut squash. ;o) They don’t have any trust issues that I am aware of. Now grownups – I have a friend or two who won’t eat anything I prepare if there is a chance I put anything unusual in it – they are worse than any child I have cooked for.
I know this is long but really I don’t know that there is a 100% right or wrong way – it is what works for your child and your family.
I often say “I make it different with fabulous ingredients – if you get is somewhere else it might not be as healthy” ie granola bars.
Oh and I hate the commercials too – really? that food is crap imho
Christy,
I think that is a GREAT way to do it! I put extra veggies in lots of stuff we eat, too. I think the big difference is that your kids are aware of it, you know? It’s the “sneaky” part of those hidden veggie recipes that bugs me—because it’s not teaching the kids anything good.
But if your kiddos think kale in the lasagna is normal, more power to you! I bet you’ll find that for some things, they’ll prefer yours over the “regular” version.
Love your tip to say you make it with “different, fabulous ingredients.” I’m going to remember that one!
I couldn’t read this entire thing because it started off bad for me. Just because people add veggies to things to mask their taste doesn’t mean they are trying to be deceptive. It doesn’t mean we are teaching kids bad things or ruining their trust. That’s pretty close minded. Have you considered that people (not just kids!) don’t like the TASTE of vegetables?? I’m 32 years old and I’m telling you right now that if you don’t mask the taste of a black bean that sucker isn’t going anywhere near my mouth. Just because I know I need to eat leafy greens doesn’t mean I magically have a taste for them. So if I can throw them into a smoothy and make it something I (and my kids) can tolerate then we will eat them. I’m soooooo tired of superficial hoitie toitie ‘better-than-thou’ mothers that get on their high horse and try to condemn others for not being as fantastic as they are. This is not a one size fits all world and sometimes you have to roll with the punches and go with what works. It is beyond me how handing my kid a fruit smoothy with spinach in it (that they LIKE!) is worse than giving them a plate full of plain spinach that they will turn their nose up at. In fact, I’m pretty sure if you have ALL kids the choice, the majority would take the smoothy. You don’t have to lie to them, tell them what’s in it! And for crying out loud STOP worrying about why other parents just aren’t as great as you are!
Perhaps if you had read the whole thing, you’d find that I come down on your side. I agree wholeheartedly in telling the kids that there is spinach in their smoothies, especially if they like it. And I certainly don’t cast aspersions on anyone who does.