100 new foods

Fava beans

favabeans

Fava beans are one of those vegetables that I have to order anytime I see them on a menu. Yes, I love their delicate flavor, but the main reason is that I know how much prep work is required. What vegetable has to be peeled…twice? Once to remove their outer shell, as you would do with an English pea. And then once again to remove them from their inner shell. The good news here is that the kids were willing to do all of the work. The bad news? They hated them. One of our worst failures to date.

ME: Ok guys, this one is called…

SAM: Fava beans

ME: Fava beans.  Ok.  Now, you cannot eat them like this (in the shell).  Why?

SAM: Because it’s still the shell.

ME: Yes, these have to be shelled twice.  Isn’t that interesting?  So you shell them — Emma don’t eat them like that because you’re about to eat it with the shell on.  That needs to be shelled so you need to take off the skin.  See, Lauren’s doing it the right way.  You want to pull it out of its shell.  Who wants to pull it out of its shell?  Sam’s working really hard on his fava bean. 

EMMA: Yucky.

SAM: She said yucky.

ME: Yeah.  If you’ve got a little piece of bean, you put it into this shelled bowl.  Don’t put the wrappers in the bowl, because we want to be able to eat these later.  Ok.  Who wants to smell the fava beans? 

SAM: I’m working really hard!

ME: You just got it out.  Good job, high five.

SAM: But I broke it.

ME: Yeah.  That’s all right.

ME: Ok.  So, who wants to try their fava bean first?

EMMA: I don’t want to try it Mommy.

ME: You what?  You don’t want to?  Well, let’s smell it first.  Smell it.  What does it smell like?

LAUREN: Ooops. 

SAM: [burps]

ME: Oh Sam, what do you say if you burp?

KIDS: [laughing]

SAM: Thank you.
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100 new foods

Edible flowers

edibleflowers

I confess that I’ve never known what edible flowers actually are. As if they’re some exotic species of flower grown just for eating. I’ve bought and consumed them, leaving it up to the flower Gods to keep producing them in order to make my salads prettier, my soups more colorful. It just so happens that I was at the farmers’ market last week when some tattooed expert looking she-chef walked up and confidently stated that she’ll take a box of pansies. Mystery revealed, they’re nothing special, we’re just eating flowers from our gardens, but I’ll pretend that I never knew that.

ME: Ok, you’ve never seen anything like it. What are these?

LAUREN: What?  Isn’t that just flowers?  Are we eating flowers?

SAM: Cabbage.

ME: Yes, they’re flowers. But they’re a special kind. They’re edible flowers.

SAM: I’m not going to eat flowers.

ME: You’re not going to eat flowers? I actually ate them on my soup last night.

LAUREN:  Um, can you take this off?

SAM: No, thank you.

LAUREN: Do you eat that?  Do you eat this?

ME: Smell it.  Yeah, you can eat the whole thing.

SAM: I want to smell it.

ME: Does it smell like anything?

LAUREN: It smells like petals.

ME: It smells like petals?  Yeah, well it actually doesn’t have a strong floral smell which is probably why they’re edible flowers. You can eat that whole thing.

LAUREN: I don’t want to eat this. OK, maybe I’ll try the yellow one.

ME: Sam, you’re going to miss out.  Here, do you want to try the yellow one or the purple one?

LAUREN: I tried the yellow one.

ME: Lauren tried the yellow first.  You’re gonna try yellow first too, Sam?

SAM: I want to try purple.
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100 new foods

Cherimoya squash

Cherimoya squash

I love it when our challenge brings us a food that’s new to all of us. It’s happened a few times in the past year, such as rambutan and mangosteen. Cherimoya squash is a little less exotic, and although I’ve heard of it (and have likely eaten it unknowingly) this was my first time preparing it at home. Cherimoya squash is like kohlrabi, beets, and other vegetables that tend to be cooked but are equally wonderful in their raw state. Thinly sliced, they’ll add a crispness to any salad. But figuring that my kids would probably prefer it cooked, I gave the squash a toss in the sautee pan, which led to all kinds of unhappiness. But we’ll get this vegetable again – it’s a winner, at least for me. 

ME: Ok, guys.  We’re going to eat something called —

LAUREN: That’s a no-no.

ME: — cherimoya squash.  Can you sit on your stool, please?  I don’t want you falling off the table.  You’re going to fall down.

ME:  Look at what it looks like.  What kind of fruit or vegetable does it look like?

LAUREN: A splash of no-no.

ME: I think it looks like a green apple.

SAM: Wooooooooooooooooo.

ME: Who’s going to smell it first?

SAM:  Me, me, me.

LAUREN: Me, me, me.

ME: No, Sam wanted to smell it first.

SAM: It smells like a cucumber.

ME: Yes it does.  That is true.  It smells just like a cucumber.  What do you think Lauren?

SAM: Is it salad?

LAUREN: I think it smells like cucumber and lettuce.

ME: It smells a bit like lettuce, too.  So I had to look online for instructions on how to cook it because I’ve actually never had this squash before; people online said that you’ve got to chop it into pieces and then you sauté it.  So that’s what I did.

LAUREN:  Could I have a bite of it?

ME: Yeah.

EMMA: Hot.

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100 new foods

Pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds

This is a bit of a stretch vegetable because pumpkin seeds seem more like a snack food than a proper vegetable. That being said, despite the roasting and salting, they’re healthy and packed with beta carotene. The kids didn’t feel strongly one way or another, but at least it was a semi win with a semi healthy food. So does that leave me ahead or behind in spurring my kids to eat healthy foods? I think we moved an inch in the right direction…

ME: What is it guys?

SAM: Nuts?

ME: It’s not nuts.

LAUREN: Of course not nuts.

ME: Lauren can’t eat nuts.

LAUREN: Ok, wait, let me smell. Fresh bologna?

ME: Fresh bologna? No, not that. You smell it Sam.

EMMA: Can I smell? Can I smell? Let me smell.

LAUREN: Pretzels?

ME: Not pretzels.

EMMA: Juice.

ME: It’s not juice. Ok. Who wants to feel one in their hands? Do you think it’s heavy or light?

LAUREN and EMMA: Light.

ME: Ok. Well, let’s see. What do you think [to Sam]? Heavy or light? Put down your sword.

SAM: I want water.

ME: Put down your sword.

SAM: I want water.

ME: I haven’t heard please yet.

SAM: Please.

ME: Ok. Hold on. Hold this so I can get you some water. Is it heavy or light?

SAM: It’s light.

ME: Light.

LAUREN: Light.

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100 new foods

Napa cabbage

Napa cabbage

We had such great success with red cabbage earlier this year that I thought Napa cabbage would be a shoe in. Aside from the Michael Jackson situation that we’ll all forget together, it was a great experiment. Napa cabbage, happening again, soon. And feel free to use the squiggly little friend line, it worked like a charm. 

ME: Look guys. What is this silly vegetable?

LAUREN: It looks like salad greens.

ME: Yeah?  Sam, look at it.  Want to reach in and grab one?  It’s squiggly. You can hold them in your hand.

SAM: No.

ME: It’s like a little friend. You guys have actually tried something similar to this already this year.  It was one of the first —

EMMA: Let’s eat it.

ME:  — foods that you tried.

LAUREN: Cabbage. Oh my god, so good.

ME: Yeah!  Stop shoveling it into your mouth like that, you’ll choke.

EMMA: Yeah.

ME: So do you remember when we tried red cabbage?  You guys all liked red cabbage.  So maybe you will like this kind of cabbage, which is called… Napa cabbage. 

SAM: It’s like a little friend. [giggling]

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