Editor's note: This segment originally aired April 8, 2015.
I never liked fruit. Wouldn't even eat fruit baby food. Nancy Leson always hated calves liver. We both reviled asparagus. That was because we'd only had the canned kind, never fresh. Paraphrasing Mark Twain I told Nancy the difference between fresh and canned asparagus was the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
We all grew up refusing to eat one thing or another. For this installment of Food for Thought I polled some KPLU staffers on their kiddie food phobias.
"I used to not eat eggplant because I didn't like eggs," Ashley Gross, Business & Labor reporter
"I only starting liking kale like 47 days ago. I am 31 and now all of a sudden I'm obsessed with all things kale," Arwen Nicks, Producer, Sound Effects
"Most vegetables but especially tomatoes. I hated them in the garden when I had to pick those ugly tomato worms off of them," Jim Wilke, Jazz Northwest
"Peas. My mother told me I'd spit them into her face from my high chair," Robin Lloyd, Mid Day Jazz
Verrrry interesting. Peas are the one thing my wife, DeGroot refuses to eat in any form or circumstances. And of course I still won't eat fruit. Except for lemons and limes. But I sure do love asparagus now that I know what the fresh kind is like. Our latest fave asparagus recipe is oven fried. Here's how.
Oven Fried Asparagus
Snap off the woody part of the stem as usual. Lay out three plates -- one with flour, one with beaten egg and one with panko bread crumbs and some grated Parmesan. Dip the stalks first in flour, then egg, finally in crumbs. Arrange on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes. Really good.
So what did you make a face at as a kid?
" I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am"
– Dr. Seuss
