A tip or two on how to make vegetables tasty

I recently watched a British documentary titled 'Fast Food Baby' on ABC. The first thought that popped into my head after the show was 'how can parents expect their children to eat those bland plain-boiled vegetables that look like they have had all the vitamines and nutrients boiled out of them'? While my heart goes out to parents who try desperately to get their kids to eat fibre, the reality is if I were a kid, I probably would not consider broccoli or zuchinni that is plain-boiled without any flavours or raw celery sticks as remotely edible. It can only be commonsense that before parents can expect to get their kids to eat veggies without them sticking a tube down their throat, they must first learn how to make them tasty. There are so many delicious child-friendly vegie recipes out there that no kid deserves to be fed tasteless strings of fibre. All it takes is some innovative spirit and basic understanding of flavour combinations to make even the least popular vegies tasty. For instance, while raw cucumber can be quite bland on its own, you can whip up a tangy sweet and sour cucumber salad with chopped cucumber, garlic (or garlic salt), rice vinegar, sugar and a dash of soy. For the adult version, add chopped red chilli for a flavour boost. Eggplant can be tasteless on its own, and take on a slightly bitter taste if overcooked, but it acts as a 'flavour sponge' when cooked with other ingredients. For example,pan-fried eggplant with garlic and balsamic vinegar makes a simple-yet-delicious child-friendly dish. If there was ever a 'most-hated vegetable for children' list, then broccoli would most certainly top that list without a doubt. A simple make-over, however, is all it takes to boost broccoli's reputation. There are so many flavours that go well with broccoli, such as stir-fried broccoli with garlic and soy, steamed broccoli (not the over-cooked broccoli that takes on a poopy-brown colour) with a garlic and cheese sauce, or simply melted butter. I could sit here all day going on about how to make vegies taste good, OR I could urge all parents to folllow this simple recipe: season vegies with a bit of commonsense, creativity and knowledge, and what comes out WILL be eaten!