The Broccoli-Kale Challenge and How the Right Audience Can Change the Game

The New York Times article, Broccoli's Extreme Makeover, about how to get Americans to eat more healthful foods using broccoli as the bait, is not a new dilemma but one that has been a challenge to doctors, nutritionists, slow food farmers, food companies, and parents for generations.  Why so difficult?

A quick look back to my own childhood memories of eating veggies especially broccoli are not happy ones. They were cooked too long and before the meal was underway declared the thing that would keep you from leaving the table because they were good for you. The paradigm shift for me came when I was first married and really wanted to understand how to cook vegetables so they would taste good. My introduction to all things vegetarian started with Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. She even has a cookbook called The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest to further entice vegetables to center stage. But it really wasn't until I had children that I learned how to make vegetables taste good and earn a respectable spot at the table. Other than Moosewood Cookbook, I scoured the library for books on how to cook.  James Beard and Alice Waters taught me how to combine food groups and Barefoot Contessa’s many cook books taught me how to love vegetables by simply sautéing or roasting with olive oil and spices. But this is my revelation not one that seems to be happening all over America.

The Times article challenges an ad agency to make broccoli cool. The idea to take kale and broccoli both low on the cool factor scale and let them duke it out for top spot seems like it might work. It worked for soda so why not broccoli? But I have to think that the audience that is targeted is older, more mature, already schooled in eat your broccoli it’s good for you. But what about the kids? That's the group that is formulating their life long eating habits and at the important stage of development. Why not talk to them about broccoli and what it is they like and don't like? A few group lessons with kids and their families learning the various ways to cook and eat vegetables can break the chain of boring, to tasty and interesting. This idea is not something I just thought up but has been proven to work. When kids are a part of the family dinner planning it becomes a team effort, a collaboration between generations. The first time I made roasted brussels sprouts my family was utterly surprised by the delicious taste that replaced the old memory of mushy and insipid. I could hardly wait to try other veggies this way. A little education goes a long way when it comes to cooking vegetables and unfortunately those methods don't seem to reach the masses.

The conversation to get broccoli or any other vegetable to be consumed is to start with educating the family on nutrition and various cooking methods so that they can find what works for them. Just by saying something is cool doesn't make it so. Rather than saying, "Have you had your veggies today?" Why not say, "Have you tried roasted broccoli?" I bet you can't eat just one.