JFF Vegetable Preferences

The ONLY veggie on the planet I can't stand is beets. I've tried so hard to love them and have had them many different ways. Not happenin.

Mushrooms. I think they're a vegetable. Anyway I hate them especially cooked. When there is pizza at work I pick them off my slice. They are slimy and I cant stand the way they feel on my tongue. Yuck!! I also hate avocados. They are too mushy. I like raw spinach but not cooked. Beets taste the way dirt smells so I can't stand them at all. I pretty much like the rest.

I used to not like radishes. They just seemed like a bitter after-thought on most dishes, thrown on top of the salad because they looked pretty, for no particular culinary reason. Then I discovered roasted or sauteed radishes. What an amazing difference. They're a whole different vegetable once they're roasted to a gorgeous golden color.

Green beans always just seemed boring to me, too. When I was growing up, green beans always came out of a can and were limp bland nothings. Then I learned how to properly roast them (they have to be lightly drizzled with olive or avocado oil, generously sprinkled with Montreal Steak Seasoning or good quality salt and freshly ground black pepper, and the pan they're going to be roasted on must be pre-heated along with the oven - 425 degrees; then they're dumped onto the screaming hot pan and roasted until slightly charred.) I love them as a snack.

I like them all. They are absolutely the best when they are in season. I think a lot of people are turned off to things because they eat stuff that was shipped 2000 miles from another hemisphere, or they're trying to choke down something that's not in season or that was filled with fertilizer to be brought to harvest sooner.

You haven't lived until you've had corn on the cob that wasn't picked until the water was boiling on the stove, or zucchini that was picked young and tender vs. old and woody. Freight care tomatoes in December? Meh...But fresh ones from the farmers market? Sweet and tender.

(And yeah, they're fruit, but...Apples in October are so much better than the same apples in April - they were all picked at the same time, but the April ones have been in storage.)

9 times out of 10, the problem is, it's the age of the veggie, the limited nutrition in it, and the fact that so many people eat them frozen and processed.

Okay I want to tell a story that might help all of you to become veggie eaters. This is a true story. A friend of mine at church cared for a friend of hers who had terminal breast cancer and was told there was nothing more they could do and she had a very short time to live.

Well my friend told me she had never seen anyone eat so many vegetables in her entire lifetime as this woman when she was given that diagnoses and she went on to tell me how she consumed such tremendous quantities of vegetables. And not only did she not die in weeks as she was told but lived for many many years and astounded the doctors.

I truly believe in the nutritional value of vegetables and their healing power.

Here's another story - you all might remember the Delaney Sisters who wrote a book which name escapes me at the moment and who both lived to be over 100 years old (I think it was l07) anyway I saw them on a morning show once and they said they make it a point that every day they eat 7 vegetables.

I really think that it's not that you don't like a particular vegetable but that you haven't found a way to prepare it that is palatable to you. Try different ways to prepare veggies until you like them - it's that important for your health and well being. And I would focus on the cruciferous vegetables - kale, broccoli, cabbage, etc. I never make a salad now that doesn't include kale and red cabbage. You can cut the kale and cabbage so small and mix it in with the romaine lettuce. And you have to get those colors in too - the red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers - the more colorful the salad the more healthy. It may be an acquired taste but it is so worth trying.

Anyway I hope this helps and good health to all of you ladies and God bless.

I like pretty much any vegetable - depending on how it is prepared. I found when we grew our own that they tasted so much better. And butter on anything - I like it.

I cannot stand how my husband's family eats vegetables. They boil the flavor right out of them, and mash them all in one pot. It's like baby mush. I had a friend who's mom did this too. I suppose if you seasoned it well it might be ok, but the texture is what ruins food for me. To me that's like baby mush.

So - as long as they are still relatively crisp, and seasoned well, I'm good.

Hate okra, absolutely detest it. It is slimy and smelly. But Love spinach, any way I can get it.

asparagus makes me gag. i can't get past the smell of it. i don't understand how anyone can eat it.
brussel sprouts. blick. urg. erp.
but i also used to hate onions and broccoli, and now i can't get enough of 'em.
my old boss, a wonderful chef, insisted that she could get me to love asparagus. nope. i guess some aversions you just don't grow out of.
ETA beets ew ew ew, they just taste like freakin' dirt. i don't get how everyone raves about their sweetness. i put beet powder in my smoothies for my cholesterol but i have to mask it with all the other stuff. and okra. slimy disgustingness.
khairete
S.

I will eat most vegetables except okra. My favorites are broccoli (cooked) and spinach. I also love fresh, home grown tomatoes, and can eat them like an apple, yum!!!

I think everybody has something they just can't stand.
I hate okra - it's a texture I just can't tolerate.
But I love raw clams and oysters.
My husband loves peanuts - but hates peanut butter - the sticky consistency drives him nuts.

I'm not a fan of cooked carrots - raw is ok.
Corn is a favorite.
Peas, pearl onions, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans - all are good.
I love all mushrooms!
And garlic!
And beets can be quite good - I like them pureed in soup.
I love most squash (well, maybe not pattypan so much)
I love asparagus - raw or cooked - it's surprisingly sweet when raw.
I also love artichokes but haven't had them in awhile.
Bok choy, spinach - great!
I like cabbage but not in cole slaw and I like it cooked and seasoned.
I like lima beans too!
Cucumbers, and tomatoes are good.
I like green peppers but they no longer like me (they give me an acid stomach).

I eat all veggies except okra and turnip greens.

i am usually open to most veggies, but sweet potatoes (no matter how they are cooked) are gross to me. an di will eat corn in any way but creamed corn makes me want to vomit. sorry for being grafic about that one. lol
any other vegetable i am ok with and will eat, if i have never had it i will try it dh has food allergy issues so i don't get to try new things often, and am very limited in what i can serve at home since dd shows signs of having similar allergy issues to dh

Peas and they are inside that pot pie! I hate them.

Okra, lima beans and cooked spinach. I like everything else that I can think of.

Funny enough, I LOVE canned green beans but hate them frozen or fresh. Go figure.

I will eat any and all fruits and vegetables. In any form- cooked, raw, dried.

Seriously, I can't think of a single one that I don't like.

(meat and seafood on the other hand... ick, lots of issues there. I'm pretty vegetarian)

I don't like any cooked vegetables. I only eat them raw and even then I am pretty picky. Like all fruit though.

I love most veggies. My favorite way to prepare them is roasted. If you haven't tried roasted cauliflower or carrots it's the BEST!!!

I do not, in any way, like eggplant. My mom would make eggplant stew at times, did not mind late for supper. Creamed corn--nuff said. And frozen spinach. Sorry, but mine needs to start out fresh.

i think i wouldnt eat okra but that's about it. my kids don't like yellow zucchini but they will eat it.

Mushrooms. Slimy, disgusting, smelly mushrooms. Blech!!!
Cooked spinach - I'll saute some very, very lightly but cooked to death in a pile of mush? No.
I eat just about every other kind of veggie as long as it's not canned or frozen.

I really do not like celery. I can tolerate it more if it's cooked in soup but even then I really don't like it. I don't care for tomatoes. If they are super thinly sliced in a sandwich where they are sort of hidden I can maybe eat them but most of the time I pick them out. It's a texture thing. I am not a fan of them stewed or cooked up in soup when they are all soggy, I pick around them. I do like them as things like spaghetti sauce though.
I really don't care for most if not all canned vegetables. I prefer them either fresh or frozen in a more whole type way.

I'm not fond of turnip or collard greens or kale, but I love mustard greens, Swiss chard, and spinach.
I used to hate beets because the only way I had ever had them was pickled. Then I tried them roasted, and absolutely loved them.

Starting in my early thirties, I became allergic to nearly all uncooked veggies and fruits. My throat would itch and itch. Skin tests said I was allergic. I ate everything cooked. I can't think of anything I didn't like. Growing up our family ate a few different veggies. We had canned beans. I still mostly prefer beans from a can. I gradually learned to like fresh beans and frozen beans were Ok in mixed vegetables or meal. I still mostly eat canned green beans.

Once I was on my own, I discovered I liked nearly every vegetable. I prefer fresh over canned spinach. Growing up we had canned spinach. I do mostly eat 10 or so same veggies. Perhap i'v grown to like them because I eat all veggies. Not necessarily full servings but enough so that I learned to like them.

How the veggie is prepared and/or seasoned makes a difference in how much I like them and how often I eat tgem. In the past I couldn't eat many veggies raw. In the past couple of years, I've found I can now eat most veggies and fruits raw. Yes!

I like vegetables in general, but peppers make me sick. Depending on how much contact and/or ingestion, there is numbness, rash, vomiting, etc. so naturally I don't eat them. I don't even like the smell.

My husband will only eat cooked spinach leaves if it is part of a dish, like mixed into the cheese filling of pasta. Raw spinach is fine.

One son likes every vegetable he has ever tried.

The other is a reluctant veggie eater but will eat them if he must. Asparagus is his absolute Nope though. He has tried it three times and it always triggers a gag reflex.

I do not like cooked carrots. However I eat them whenever my son is present. Setting an example. But if I am eating with adults only, I leave them over. I wouldn't pick out a food I didn't like, I would just not eat them.

I like fresh carrots. I have tried many many recipes to find a cooked on I like and no go. I have even grown carrots to address the issues Diane B raises and that didn't help.

I also don't like beets (except in borscht). I try them religiously twice a year and they still taste like dirt. And I eat all the other root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes, yams) except of course cooked carrots.

Pickling makes okra edible. Actually better than edible if you throw some hot red peppers and garlic in the pickling liquid.

ETA: Suz is right. Beets don't just taste like dirt. They taste like sweetened dirt which if anything, is worse than regular dirt.

I am with Suzi F - Just Say NO to Beets!! It's totally a texture thing for me.
And some squashes, to a small degree, but if they are flavored right, I can usually manage OK
T. :)

Not a fan of mushrooms. I think it's the texture. Will eat them on a pizza if they are fresh, not canned!

I cannot stand mushrooms, except for a rare instance when fancy mushrooms are served as part of a dish in a FINE dining setting. The smell, taste, and texture completely ruin a dish for me. Olives of any color and raw red, white, or yellow onions are also something I pick out and set aside.

I love the veggies in Marie Calendar's pot pies, but I pick out the meat and dispose of it. Too many gross, fatty, gristley, crunchy bites of meat ruined it for me. :-)

I love all vegetables. My picky husband doesn't like any root vegetables, cabbage or squash. My picky son only likes broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms and corn on the cob. My other son seems to like most vegetables, but some he only likes raw, like mushrooms, cabbage and onions.

ETA: I don't think I have ever had Okra.

I hate mushrooms. Cooked or uncooked. Won't touch them. Hate the smell. Am recently allergic to eggplant - so odd. I was never a superfan so that's an easy one to get over. I am not a huge fan of spinach unless it's cooked into something.

I love broccoli. And zucchini and onions. They all find their way into everything I cook.

I love veggies. When we go to a buffet my plate will have just about every veggie they have. I love casseroles too. Not one person in my house will eat a bite of one though.

I could live without carrots too. I actually had some the other day at a church pot luck.One of my friends here on mamapedia fixed them. Yes, we were friends before she told me about mamapedia...lol. She sliced them very thin and put orange peel and apricot preserves in them. OH MY STARS!! They were so good I ate thirds of them and didn't even get more of anything else on the table at our pot luck.

Today I had mashed potatoes and corn. I am NOT much of a potato person. I want fries maybe once or twice a year and if I'm not at a place that has them it'd be even less than that. I can't put enough butter or sour cream on a baked potato to make it go down smoothly, they're just dry and hard to swallow. I do okay with mashed potatoes if they're real and they use good potatoes. Other than that I can really do without them.

I love sweet potatoes baked or boiled or put in stew or anything. Pretty much all veggies. I do NOT like Turnips. I do NOT like Brussels Sprouts. I put mushrooms, bell peppers, garlic, and other fresh veggies in my sauces and I cook meats with them often. Other than that I like cooked veggies as a side.

As for fresh or raw I do okay with baby carrots that are really small and tender. Broccoli and Cauliflower have to have good dip or I won't eat them. Stuff like that is okay but it's make it or break it when it comes to what you eat them with, as in the dip.