Brussels Sprouts!... It’s All That!

Holy cow! All three of my kids ate brussels sprouts tonight for dinner. Can you believe it?! Even my seven year old! How in the world did that ever happen? I was shopping the other day and a friend of mine looked into my basket and asked me “who in your family eats brussels sprouts?” My response to her was “everyone!” Knowing good and well, that there was no way in hell that my seven-year old was going to eat a brussels sprout! But he did! Tonight he ate one and then asked for more! Even my friend at the grocery store made one of those squished-up faces when I asked her if anyone in her family ate them.

How did this happen? Honestly, I have no idea! My kids are odd, or so I say, when it comes to eating, because they have no other choice in my family. I don’t cook two or three meals a night. But yes, there are nights when we’ve eaten two or three different meals due to the tapered meal-times that busy families fall into with kids in sports and parents going to meetings. However, when we have a “family meal” everyone eats the same meal and I try to make this happen at least 4 times a week.

I’m stuck on this brussels sprout thing, because it’s just that: brussels sprouts! Yes, I eat them (not an everyday favorite thing, but periodically) and the only reason I purchased them was because they were on sale and I thought we’d try them to see what happened. I steamed them up, allowed a little dipping into a ¾ lemon juice + ¼ melted butter and “wah-lah” the kids were downing them. Oh, my god, they’re eating brussels sprouts!

Hmmm… So I’m looking up “brussel sprouts” initially to question how to spell it properly and to try to discover why they are despised so much. Yes, there is an “s” in the word “brussels” which my spell check keeps trying to take out. Brussels sprouts are among the same family that includes cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, kale and kohlrabi (what the heck it that). They contain a good amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fiber. They pretty much taste “healthy” which is why I think most people don’t like how they taste. They are believed to protect against colon cancer, due to their containing sinigrin. Sinigrin is a glucosinolate which is found in some plants of the “Brassica” family such as brussels sprouts, broccoli and the seeds of black mustard. Sinigrin is responsible for the pungent taste of mustard and horseradish, which is probably why overcooking brussels sprouts will make them have a pungent taste, the taste that most people don’t like.

So how did I get my kids (in particularly my seven-year-old) to eat brussels sprouts? I can remember reading a book that Dr. Cooper gave me when my first child started eating real food. It was a basic book about child nutrition; I can’t remember the name of it anymore (there are many of them on the market today). I do remember that in the introduction to the book, the author stated that you should always set the example (by eating properly yourself) and never “give-in” to the processed, fast-food, second-meals that kids will demand when they start to develop a palate of their own. Most parents get nervous and desperate when they have a young child that doesn’t eat what you make them. If you are a parent that it making good, healthy meals; then you should never be worried about the meals you are preparing. Just don’t give into those “processed pizzas and bagel bites!” You must start practicing a kind of “tough love” with eating and letting your kids know “that THIS is it! You eat or you’ll go to bed hungry! There’s no dessert/snack later. I’ll be happy to warm this plate up when you are hungry before bed!” I know! I’m such a mean mom! Thank you Meri Winkel for “laughing about this together,” you taught me how to be this mean! And guess what, my kids ate brussels sprouts tonight!

Oh, I thank my seven-year old for not making me a liar to my friend in the grocery store. Because he ate his brussel sprouts too! I’m still feeling really “wow’d!” Oh, in case you were wondering; kohlrabi is a low, stout cultivar of the cabbage “kohl” and “rabi” turnip. It is bred from the “wild” cabbage plant. I bet you didn’t know that!

 

Deborah Holmes

November 19, 2007