Have Your Eating Habits Changed?

[Lumpy]

I found this thread on pg 101 that was first posted by Corris. http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ged_62394.html
Now that there are alot more Grapes have your eating habits changed since you have been interested in or growing your own fruit and veg?

I have found that I grow alot of the veggies that are expensive to buy and therefore get to eat them more regularly but what about the rest of yo?

[GardenGayle]

I throw away less of the veg I grow than veg I buy so I guess I eat more of my 5 a day without thinking about it. I also grow some things like asparagus peas that I wouldn't be able to get hold of very easily in shops.
My son definitely eats more veg when its from the ground/plant than from the fridge.

[Lumpy]

Kids seem to have an in built sense that tells them what things are supposed to taste like Good on them !

[muddled]

Mine have!
I have developed a love of cabbages, kales, chards and all green leafys which I certainly didn't like before. Partly because they are easy to grow and partly because my French lottie friend and my Italian plot neighbour taught me how to cook and serve them.

Courgettes is another one.
Don't think I ever bought one in my whole life but when peering out from beneath a summer squash mountain in year one, I figured I'd best find some recipes. Now summer ain't here til I'm eating courgette fritters and tzatziki.

Raw peas, BBQ corn on the cobs (within five minutes of picking), baked custard and creme caramel when the chooks come to lay in spring, plum jam, grape jelly, Fat pink fir apple chips and the outrageous amounts of fresh herbs that adorn every meal in the summer....
Yep; my diet has REALLY changed......it's 100% better ;-)

[noviceveggrower]

Mine is changing as I find out what I can grow and what I like to eat. I have found that I am eating more beans which I really like anyway, more spuds especially as new potatoes, tomatoes fresh off the plant and radishes can't beat them freshly pulled and eaten there and then. Hey bit of dirt adds to the texture
This year I think is going to be the year to get the kids to eat more veg. I know say it every year. Hope to get some more kid friendly menus going to try and encourage them. In fact think I am going to have to get more menus going for both me and OH.
Must agree with you though Lumpy I have found I eat the more expensive stuff if I grow it because I protest at paying the price in the shops or buying something that has no taste and has flown in from abroad.

[Jay-ell]

I've eaten more broccoli this year than the previous decade. Also eat the bits that the greengrocer throws away like radish tops, turnip tops and sprout tops.. Add to this the fact that I've been eating things I don't see in the shops such as pak choi, hamburg parsley, salsify, mizuma amd mibuna.

There's also the failed crop of tomatoes which went into green tomato chutney, jam and pickle
Which combined with things that I didn't bother buying like fresh sweetcorn would definitely point to a change in eating.

[Martin H]

I'm eating, and enjoying, a lot more green stuff than I used to. But I feel I could change still further if I were better at cooking.

I have developed a love of cabbages, kales, chards and all green leafys which I certainly didn't like before. Partly because they are easy to grow and partly because my French lottie friend and my Italian plot neighbour taught me how to cook and serve them.

Do tell. Those of us cooks who are all thumbs need all the help we can get!

[Kristen]

We've grown our own veg for many years - decades even - so eating habits not changed recently, but having said that our growing habits have changed

Time was when we would have used some pesticides on the crop, now we don't use any. We use plenty of scaffolders debris netting, and some enviromesh (for smaller pests)

We have moved away from choosing varieties based on yield / productivity, and perhaps disease resistance, to only growing for flavour. We have space so can tolerate some crop loss due to poor performance / yield / disease, but we now want best flavour in the kitchen.

I get upset if veg we grow is then wasted - lots of hours of worked chucked on the compost heap! Vegetable soup is now commonly used for lunch; we have a soup maker (thing like a liquidiser with a heating element in it and a timer), it wasn't expensive and we now use all veg left overs (side of plate, surplus that was not served, and when we steam veg to eat we,separately, steam all the tough stalks and other bits that we would not eat directly. They all go in the soup, but because they are stringy we then put the soup through a Mouli (like a sieve with a press to push it through)

There are some veg that we grow that my family say they hate, but they eat mine ... even after all these years they express surprise at the taste. Sprouts for example. I've not very good at growing Sprouts - small, and not very many - so this year we bought some big'uns from Supermarket for XMas meal. Both were cooked side-by-side. My goodness! the bought once tasted foul - very bitter. Is that how people like them? not surprised my family think they are foul! if not is there some reason why farmers don't grow more tasty / sweeter ones?

[Kristen]

P.S. This year is a significant, and new for us, foray into Oriental veg. We like stir fries and the like, so am keen to see which types of oriental veg we will like, plus which ones will do well in Winter and for the "hungry gap"

[Scarlet]

Kids seem to have an in built sense that tells them what things are supposed to taste like Good on them !

Not so sure on this...they hate my gooseberry and rhubarb desserts
I keep trying though, I'm sure they will get there eventually

[muddled]

Martin H, here's how to cook greens....
In an empty jamjar put two parts olive oil to three parts balsamic vinegar,
a finely chopped shallot,
a little chopped garlic (optional)
a good pinch each of sugar, salt and black pepper.

Put the lid on and shake like loony for a bit. Taste and add more of any of the above ingredients until it's perfect for you.
Leave this in the fridge to drizzle over lightly cooked greens. I boil tougher leaves, steam delicates. Any you boil, add a tiny pinch of bicarb to the water.
The dressing lasts a week or more and is best a day or two after you've made it.

[Guest]

Yes, but they should really change more.

I actually love having gluts as it forces me to get creative in the kitchen. It is great having all the jams and chutneys for winter store. Courgettes for example I don't think I have ever bought one from the supermarket and I would rather find other things instead to buy if needs be. However eating them to the point they are coming out of your ears and being sick of them is so quickly forgotten before the next season.
I also tend to try more veg + fruit even those that I wrote off as I didn't like years ago. Rhubarb for one, I would never eat it up until 6 or so years ago and gooseberries I still don't do the green ones, but red...yum!yum!yum!
My one to work on- is the weird and wonderfuls. I love growing them but there seems to be this reluctance for me to dive right in where eating is concerned and sometimes takes a few seasons to get into them. (oca, achochca, yakon etc.)

[Snadger]

Nope, I still slurp spaghetti and spill the sauce down my front!

[Lumpy]

Each year I seem to become addicted to one particular thing. A couple of tears back it was Munchem Bier radish, then golden beetroot, then fennel so Goose knows what it will be this year?

[Scarlet]

Nope, I still slurp spaghetti and spill the sauce down my front!

That's not so bad! However burping loudly after sipping your wine is a no, no