Last week I was driving with my best friend -- Leonard Lopate, obviously -- whose guests were two parenting podcasters: Dan Pashman, host of “The Sporkful,” and Hillary Frank, host of “The Longest Shortest Time.” They were discussing "Raising Adventurous Eaters," and had some good advice for parents of picky eaters -- I'm happy to report that family dinner and the idea of repeated exposure came up a few times. But my favorite moment in the radio segment occurred at the end, when a listener called in to share how she raised her kids to love vegetables -- specifically peppers. It sounds like her children are all grown now, but she still could not mask her delight when she told Lopate and his panel that the way she got her kids to eat bell peppers was by asking them to close their eyes before eating one, then seeing if they could correctly identify the color -- red, green, or yellow? As her kids tested, they tasted, as they tasted they got their daily intake. I thought this was pretty hilarious -- and I couldn't help but think of endless options for riffing, especially now that the farmer's market is exploding with crazy varieties of just about every vegetable. Carrots: Orange, red, or white? Tomatoes: yellow, red, green? Beans: purple or green? Eggplant: Purple or white? Beets: Red, orange, striped, golden? I could go on. I'm sure you could, too.
Anyway, thanks for the tip, Sidney* from New Jersey, whoever you are!
Related: 44 Things We've Told Our Kids to Get Them to Eat
Related, Oldie but Goodie: Can you tell the difference between white wine from red wine when blindfolded? Don't be so sure. (And don't do this one with the kids.)
*I think that was your name. Forgive me, I didn't re-listen.
Photo: Edible Cape Cod