How to Get Your Husband to Eat Vegetables

“Don’t tell my mom I’m eating vegetables,” my husband insisted while scarfing down a plate of leeks.

“Why not?”

“Because she spent her whole life trying to get me to eat them, and I never would,” he explained. “I don’t want her to be jealous.”

This was no small feat, getting my Cuban immigrant husband who grew up in the sixties to eat something green or orange on a daily basis. In Cuba food is rationed and frequently in short supply, so vegetables are not an intricate part of recipes. Tropical fruit abounds, but veggies, not so much. Cuban cuisine relies heavily on meat, rice and beans. My husband also has a hankering for the fluff food of the sixties. Before me, he happily ate meals consisting of white bread smeared with mayonnaise, dipped into café con leche with copious amount of sugar.

Enter me: a pecso vegetarian (vegetarian, excepting seafood) who loves to cook. In the beginning, I was so nervous that we wouldn’t be able to share meals together, but it wasn’t long before he came around to way of eating.

Here are a few simple tricks to help you convert your husband to the veggie-eating side of life:

1. Figure out was his favorite style of cuisine is, then prepare vegetable-heavy recipes.

Our average encounter with cuisines are quite limited compared to the breadth they have to offer. For many people, Italian food means pizza, lasagna or spaghetti, but Italians have a much more diverse repertoire with garlic sautéed broccoli rabe, stuffed zucchini blossoms and so much more.  Japanese food is more than just teriyaki and sushi; there are marinated eggplant spears, vegetable-rich yakisoba to name a few.

2. Make it look and sound pretty. (Yes, men are suckers for pretty.)

Take a cue from the restaurant industry and give your dishes an appetizing name.  Inform your husband of this before dinner, so he starts to get excited.  You’re not just serving spinach, but Greek Spanakopita.  You’re not serving squash, rather Tuscan Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage.  You get the idea.  Personally, I attribute quite a few recipes to Tuscany because there’s just something magical about that region that makes everyone’s mouth water.

Also, take a minute or two to work on presentation, so there is a nice ta-da moment when the food hits the table.  A sprinkle of parsley, an arrangement of sliced lemons or simply plating food with a sense of style can go a long way in getting a picky eater to try something new.

2. Make vegetables an unavoidable part of the main course.

I use this for children too.  Make it hard to eat dinner without eating vegetables.  Stir fries, rice bowls, pasta already mixed with sauce or veggies, vegetable risottos….  There are any number of ways to incorporate vegetables into the main event, and if you have to chop them up small, do it.  When a friend of mine complained that her husband refused to eat vegetables and her kids were starting to want to follow his lead, I thought, Wow, it would be really hard to avoid vegetables at my table.  He’d have to pick around just about everything on his plate.  So, make it hard and hope your husband puts his laziness to good use.

3. Really cook your vegetable sides.

A side of steamed broccoli most likely has this future in store: a lonely life on the serving dish, followed by a week in a Tupperware container, then a dump in the trash.  Sometimes in our quest to eat healthfully, we ostracize the very vegetables we want our husbands to eat.  Think about it: we season, cook, and flavor every other dish on the table, but leave our veggies unadorned.  Yes, I know they are healthier raw or streamed with nothing on them, but for most men, that also leaves them unappetizing.  Don’t be afraid to add olive oil, a pat of butter, a sprinkle of raw sugar, sea salt, pepper, herbs, spices and lemon.  Look up new recipes and experiment.  If it’s genuinely delicious, it will be eaten.

Check out mamaguru.com’s food section for yummy veggie recipes.

4. Learn how to make vinaigrette and dress the salad in the kitchen.

Vinaigrettes are very easy to make and a homemade one tastes so much better than any bottle. They are inexpensive, a lot healthier and they can last a long time. You will have much tastier salads if you take the time.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but dressing salads in the kitchen, uses less calories and tastes better.  By adding the dressing one tablespoon at a time, then gently tossing the salad, each bite will be properly flavored.  You’ll avoid drowning the salad or leaving some bites undressed.  Again, deliciousness is king with men.

5. Consider a soup starter.

If your man just doesn’t like salad no matter what you do, why not start a meal with a simple vegetable soup.  Soups are hearty and many men enjoy them without realizing, they are basically eating a serving or two of vegetables.  I like to sauté garlic and onions in olive oil, add whatever cut veggies I have on hand, season generously, add a bit of veggie stock, simmer, puree and serve.  Easy, yummy and full of veggies.

6. Buy him a copy of Men’s Health Magazine

This is a great magazine and I credit it with reducing my husband’s intake of soda by two thirds and getting him to switch to whole grains.  Somehow when nutritional information comes from the wife it is classified as nagging, but when it comes from a magazine it is factual.  Go figure!  I had been trying for a year to get him to make the switch.  Pick up a copy when an athlete your husband admires is on the cover and give it to him without a word.  Let him discover nutritional information on his own, and then, be very supportive.

Good luck to you and your husband, and good health to you both as well.