Vegetables and Challenge Vegetables.

[catsittingstill]

Kip has been away for a while (he's coming back Thursday, actually--yay!) and so I've been having more vegetables with dinner.  It's not so much that he insists on no vegetables or anything, but there are a lot of them that he just doesn't eat, or munches his way stolidly through a small serving but plainly doesn't enjoy.

So I went through a couple of weeks where dinner was a starch, like rice or corn or a small potato, plus three vegetables (squash, broccoli, cabbage, green beans, and onions all took turns) plus a little bit of meat on top, boiled/steamed in a small pot for 20 minutes.

And it occurred to me that I should challenge myself by trying some new things.  It might be interesting some day to work my way through the produce department and try everything in turn, but frankly, some of those veggies are kind of expensive.  However I figured I'd try a "challenge vegetable" once a week.

Last week my challenge vegetable was a green pepper.  Now I thought I didn't like green peppers, but it would be interesting to eat one anyway, just to see if they were like onions (which I hated as a child but now quite like, at least when they're cooked.  A little raw onion goes a long way, still.) 

The challenge vegetable languished in the fridge for several days as I put off eating it.  Not tonight, I'm tired.  Not tonight, it probably won't go with dinner.  Not tonight; I'm at Marcon and six hours drive from the fridge anyway.

Tonight I cut slices off it and started munching.  And you know, it still has that starting flavor (if it were a perfume I think it would be called the "high note") that I don't like, and that is very penetrating and transfers itself to anything cooked with or touching it.  But, interestingly enough, as I keep chewing, that high note goes away and the pepper tastes very green and fresh, with a crisp texture that is also juicy.  Kind of like celery, but not as salty.

I like that part of the flavor.  I wasn't expecting that.

This week my challenge vegetable is a turnip.  I have no idea if I will like it or not; I have never had one.

How about you--are there any vegetables that you thought you disliked but came to like, or at least to partially like?

Comments

[mdlbear]

Asparagus and tomato were my main veggie dislikes growing up. I liked tomato cooked in things like spaghetti. Now I like it raw, too, *if* it's a good one. Heirloom tomatoes are yummy, as are the ones they sell in clusters.

I never liked asparagus, until I discovered that my mom was overcooking it -- done in the microwave, or (even better) stir-fried, it's wonderful.

I still don't eat raw bananas -- I choked on one when I was 5. Cooked, yes.

I like turnips -- raw, they're sort of like a very mild radish, and slices are excellent for dipping. Cooked, they're softer and less starchy than potatoes.

[catsittingstill]

I tried a few slices of raw turnip last night, and they do remind me of radish. I thought they weren't hot, but that snuck up on me--they weren't hot until after I'd eaten them.

[kay_brooke]

Hated spinach when I was a kid, because my mom never used it and the only exposure I ever had to it was the mushy, badly-cooked stuff we sometimes got as part of the elementary school lunch. Didn't touch the stuff again until after college, when I slowly started appreciating things with spinach in them and then finally the spinach itself.

Another vegetable I tried again recently but still hate: squash.

[catsittingstill]

I love raw spinach. I think I would like it cooked, but it's expensive enough, and cooking shrinks it down so much, that I don't eat it that way except as a sprinkle in omelets and on pizzas.

I like most squashes. Spagetti squash is a bit oddly-textured, though.

[keris]

I disliked tomato as a kid, but couldn't explain why -- I loved ketchup and tomato soup and tomato juice. Now I know why, it's the texture. I'm still not extremely fond of raw tomato (and can't stand cooked ones unless they are puree, fried and canned ones are disgusting, literally) but I'll eat it in salad.

Red and green 'bell' peppers I like. Beets, including turnip and swede (rutabega), I like if cooked well (not to the slimy stage, they should still be solid enough to bite). Most squashes I still don't like, except cucumber. Celery I don't like the taste unless it's cooked in stew or soup (and don't see the point if it's raw -- like lettuce it has negative calories, needing more to eat than it gives).

I know steak isn't a vegetable, but that's another thing I like now but hated, my mother hated any 'pink' and cooked it to leather.

[catsittingstill]

I hadn't realized that turnip and swede were beet relatives. But now I think about it, it seems reasonable that they might be.

I haven't tried beets and have to admit they intimidate me some.

[keris]

Actually, looking it up they aren't close relatives (turnips and swedes are Brassicca, so they are closer to cabbage and Brussels sprouts). But to me they are similar, and a number of cultures use the same names for them (in particular I've heard rutabaga used for beetroot as well as for swede) and refer to the whole lot as 'beet' or 'turnip'. Swede is still quite popular as a side-vegetable in England with a roast meal, a typical pub "Sunday lunch" will often include it.

I like beetroot cooked and cold (and /not/ soaked in vinegar!). Or hot in borscht (mmm, borscht!). It's messy to cook, because the juice stains anything it can find and is almost impossible to remove.