Every January someone tells me to blend kale into a smoothie. Every January I think the same thing: if I have to disguise a food this aggressively, perhaps it is not for me.
The trap of the virtuous vegetable
We have turned eating veg into a kind of penance. The wellness version involves green powders, joyless salads and ingredients chosen for their reputation rather than their taste. No wonder it does not stick.
The truth is that almost any vegetable becomes good with a little salt, a little fat and some heat. The problem was never the vegetable. It was the boiling.
What actually worked
I stopped chasing superfoods and started making veg taste of something.
- Roast it. Almost anything, tossed in oil and salt at a high heat, comes out sweet and crisp
- Buy frozen. It is cheaper, lasts for weeks and is picked at its best
- Add it to things you already make, a handful of spinach into pasta sauce, grated carrot into a bolognese
- Keep a bag of something ready to grab, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, sugar snap peas
None of this requires a recipe or a blender. It requires the same five minutes you would spend microwaving something duller.
The honest goal
I do not eat my five a day every single day, and I have made my peace with that. But I eat far more now than when I was trying to like kale. The aim is not perfection or a particular vegetable with a halo. It is to make the ordinary ones taste good enough that you reach for them without a fight.