Money Saving Meals

How can I get my kids to eat more veggies?

Jane Austen wrote in Pride and Prejudice: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' These days the universally acknowledged truth is that kids and veggies just don't go together. We see it on TV in ads promoting sauces to cover/hide vegetables so the kids will eat them and you read handy tips on sneaking grated veggies into meals like spaghetti bolognese and rissoles in magazines, newspapers and books so the kids will gobble them up. And yes, we do it, too. Our Money Saving Meals spag bol has heaps of added grated veggies cooked slowly so that they melt into the sauce ...

'Since I have been teaching children how to cook as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program at Bondi Public School my views have totally changed,' says Diane. 'The children grow the vegetables in our school garden, they look after them, then they harvest them and make recipes with them in our kitchen. So we don't hide them – we can't.

What is surprising is that the vegetables aren't always perfect – they don't look even and glossy as they do neatly lined up in the fresh produce aisles. Some have holes in the leaves where "very hungry caterpillars" have been feasting. In fact, the 6–8 year-olds love finding bugs in the unwashed veggies!

Each week I base the recipes the children will cook on what is ready for harvesting in the garden. We recently had baskets and baskets of eggplants, so I developed a Free-form Eggplant and Feta Tart (not the most child-friendly sounding of dishes and I did worry). But they relished it along with the silver beet tart we made the next week – where there was nearly a stampede for seconds.

I always start my class with all the ingredients on a plate but hidden under a tea towel (to add to the suspense rather like Masterchef). When we uncover the plate (yes we sometime do fling the tea towel with a flourish) we look at them and chat about what we can do with them, how to prepare them and then they get to have a go – grating, slicing, dicing, chopping. I never tell them that veggies are good for them. I never mention the 'H' word (health). And I endlessly milk the fact that many of the children watch MasterChef. So I spice classes with MasterChef-type games to get them identifying the spices and matching equipment to the ingredients.

I have also learned never to assume that the children can't do something. In our kitchen, with a little supervision from volunteer parents, the primary school children learn how to use knives and graters and cook on stoves; those still in infants' classes (the 6–8 year olds), tear basil leaves, pick leaves off herbs, peel carrots, snip chives and use the food processor. We don't fuss about mess, but the children are responsible for it and they clean and wash up afterwards.

Each class makes two recipes a week. We encourage the children to try everything and when there is time we give them a chance to tell us why they liked or disliked a dish – and they have to give reasons. Almost all the children do try everything we make. I think this is because they are learning about different vegetables in an appealing way – not just what it is, but how it smells and feels, its texture.

One week early in June we picked cabbages, rocket and chives and I came up with a Cabbage and Orange Salad (thanks to a box of donated oranges). One boy announced: "I never eat salad, but this is wonderful," as he cleaned his plate.'

So how does this translate to the home?
'Start at the green grocer or the fresh produce aisles in the supermarket and let children pick the veggies – perhaps for the colour or texture it will give to a dish. Get them to wash and dry the vegetables and herbs and do some of the preparation – peeling, grating, slicing, chopping. Don't fuss about speed or perfection – they'll get better the more practice they get.'

Cabbage and Orange Salad

Serves 4–6

3 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 oranges, peeled, halved and roughly chopped
1 cup roughly chopped or torn rocket leaves
¼ cup chopped chives

Dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp orange juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the cabbage, orange and rocket in a large serving bowl with the chives.

Whisk together the oil, vinegar and orange juice in a small bowl and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Toss and serve.