Being Perverse

Sometimes you've just got to go for it. When a wilful Small Person has not let anything green pass his lips for, oh say four months, a mother snaps.

Wondering how a child can thrive so clearly on a diet of milk, toast and meat. Bright of eye, glossy of hair and full of mischief and energy. Even his beloved oranges are out and apples have become pseudo bowling balls, to be rolled across the room until he is caught.

So one night, frustrated and tired, I just decided to do my worst. He'd have green for dinner and that was that. I threw some wholemeal spaghetti in a pot, and while it was boiling, I grated a couple of zucchini, skin on. When the pasta was done, I cooked the zucchini shreds briefly with a little olive oil and a jar of basil pesto. Added the spaghetti back to the mix and sprinkled a little cheese.


Now, granted, this dish features pasta and cheese, two of the Small One's favourite foods, but he has fastidiously rejected dinner in the past on the grounds that it contains something as innocuous and pick-aroundable as peas. But he lapped this up and I didn't know what to say.

Two days laster he was back on Green Strike again, but hey, he ate vegetables at least three times this month. For now, I'll take that as a truimph!