Cooking with kids: Veggie 4 Kids

Tip 1: Being a role model

Whether we like it or not, as adults we set examples with our actions. Even at a young age, children notice preferences, behaviors and approaches to nutrition in their parents. If you want your child to prefer broccoli to a bag of chips, you yourself should set a good example.

If you are enthusiastic about a healthy and balanced diet, you can easily pass this on to your children and teach them in a playful way what keeps us healthy and vital.

Going to the farmers market becomes an adventure, without vegetables there is suddenly something colorful missing on the plate and flavor enhancers are completely superfluous for the little ones.

Tip 2: Cooking together

Studies show that children prefer to eat what they have prepared themselves and what they can relate to. Let your child choose the vegetables at the market and cook together. "What are you in the mood for today?" gets the little ones involved. They are more likely not to spurn later what they have chosen themselves. 

Visit a farm with your child, harvest vegetables together or just the herbs on your balcony. There are so many wonderful ways to show children that food doesn't grow in the supermarket.

If children grow up with an awareness of how food is grown and produced, they will appreciate it much better and they will prefer to eat unprocessed food.

Tip 3: Delightful for the eye and the palate

"It has to be delightful for the eye" applies to all children. Cook colors that your child likes, make the meals colorful and fun. Radish ladybugs on the vegetable wafer, a palm tree from bananas and kiwi, a toast with a strawberry mouth. Food shouldn't be there to play with, but a positive association with skeptically-eyed veggies can work wonders.

The way a food is consumed can also conjure the meal into a favorite. Finger food is always appreciated. Burgers with veggie patty, and veggie balls with dip simply go down well.

And last but not least, children enjoy naming things. Play a little and try whether your child prefers to eat the beet soup if is called strawberry soup instead or if is more attractive to convert the big salad plate with cucumber fishies to a pirate's dish.  

Tip 4: Getting used to it

When it comes to vegetables, start by focusing on what kids already like to eat. According to nutrition experts, children need at least 10 contact points before they like something. You can start counting in your head. Pressure and reproaches are counterproductive. If you want to foster your children's appetites for vegetables, you have to take a positive and creative approach.

The good thing is: taste can be learned and developed. Start mixing some vegetable spaghetti into the pasta, lighten the rice with millet or add some lentils.

If you gradually increase the proportion, your child will not notice any difference and will get used to the taste more and more.

There is no ONE recipe for success. As with us adults, the palates of children are also very diverse. Since tastes change over the years, however, you can try certain foods again after some time has passed. While most fruit is quite popular due to its sweetness, children often despise vegetables.

Start with sweet and visually appealing vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, peppers or squash. If your child doesn't like a vegetable cooked, he or she may be keen to eat it raw. Let the kids smell the vegetables, let them taste the veggies with and without peels and try out what they like best. When you prepare the vegetables, we recommend to prepare them gently without much spice.