Should parents hide vegetables in their kid’s food?

Karen Switkowski, PhD, MPH

---

​One of the most popular child feeding “hacks” is sneaking vegetables into a more kid-friendly food so that the child will unwittingly them. Vegetables are one of the most universal sources of parental feeding angst. However, the typical rejection of vegetables can be easier to manage when parents recognize that this is just a normal kid thing. Here is a quick summary of what is going on:

​In general, kids will voluntarily eat 1) what they like and 2) what is familiar to them. “Liking” is the major factor for young babies, who will instinctively reject anything that tastes bitter, an innate way of protecting themselves from ingesting toxins. Many vegetables taste bitter so babies spit them out, and parents might stop offering them in favor of something that the baby seems to enjoy more. As the baby grows into a toddler, they hit the neophobic (“fear of new things”) stage, when they refuse to engage with the unfamiliar, including foods that they have not eaten regularly. The neophobic phase can last for a long time, and once kids are mostly past it (at around 6 years old), food preferences and eating habits are well-established and often don’t include vegetables. This is when it might be tempting to start “hiding” the vegetables, which might work for awhile. But let’s consider how this is impacting the child’s long-term relationship to vegetables and to food in general:

1. Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation to eat: Research is pretty consistent in showing that children eat more vegetables (and just have a better relationship with food overall) when they have a sense of autonomy over their food intake. This means that they are deciding what and how much they are going to eat in response to their own preferences and internal feelings of hunger/fullness - they are eating something because they are intrinsically motivated. In contrast, children who are eating (or not eating) in response to pressure, restriction, or a desire for a reward are being extrinsically motivated.
2. Subtle messaging: eventually a child will probably discover that she is not eating a food that she has become familiar with, decided she likes, and voluntarily chosen to eat, but one that has been infiltrated by hidden vegetables. This establishes the vegetable as 1) something that is so undesirable that it needs to be hidden; 2) the evil thing that ruined a food she normally enjoyed; 3) something that someone else wants her to eat so much that they are willing to trick her into doing it. This pressure to eat the vegetable (a type of extrinsic motivation) can often have the opposite effect.
3. Children’s relationship with food: Meals and sharing food can be a wonderful source of joy and connection within a family. However, it is difficult to achieve these positive feelings when parents use food as a method of tricking or deceiving their child. How can children trust food if they don’t know what might be hiding in there?

These are not arguments again making spinach meatballs or zucchini muffins - the issue is the “hiding” or deception. “Flavor pairing” or pairing new or less-liked foods with other foods that a child does like, can sometimes increase acceptance of those foods. It can also be a way to provide positive exposures to vegetables, if done in a low-pressure and non-sneaky way.
If you’d like to read more about this and other topics related to child feeding and nutrition, you can check out my newsletter at https://justonebite.substack.com/.