I didn't realize that. Canned and bland veggies are worse than none at all.
When my kids were 5 and 6, I took them to the produce department of the grocery store and announced that we were going to try every vegetable, from A to Z. They said bleh and made faces, but were at least interested in the idea…and as it turned out, I could hardly move them beyond ARTICHOKE, as they both really loved them…Zucchini too, and almost everything between.
The one thing I could not make appealing was liver, no matter what I did with it, how I cooked it, or what I said about it. "This is peacock liver, favorite of the emperor of China," brought giggles but no cooperation. I really enjoy liver, but they didn't have to. No point in pushing against the tide.
I recently left a job in a public high school. NONE of the teachers ate in the cafeteria. It was disgusting.
I don't want to highjack the thread with a discussion of "free" lunches, but for many of my students, school meals were the only reliable source of nutrition they might get that didn't come from a wrapper (chips, candy, etc). It always hurt me that their only meal of the day was so poor.
Fridays were the worst, because they served "Manager's Special" which was poorly disguised leftovers of whatever wasn't eaten during the week. From Friday to Monday is a long time for a child who may not get anything decent to eat in between.
Back in the day, we had lunch ladies who actually cooked. We had good food, and we could always get seconds for veggies. In the mornings, they would actually snap the beans we'd have for lunch. They'd make our rolls from scratch... no seconds on those, though, we'd have eaten them out of whatever budget they had... they were delicious, a treat!
Now, school lunch is "heat and serve." I'm sure it's driven by budget constraints and strict nutritional boundaries, but didn't our lunch ladies back in the day have the same constraints?
I like liver sautéed with onions, but the cub took the habit of her dad, who hated it. The only veggies I don’t care for are green beans-they are edible sautéed with crumbled bacon, onion, pepper and tarragon, but no other way. All other veggies are fine.