Cindy Kambeitz’s nine-year-old son, Mikey, only eats carrots, snow peas, and lettuce. “It’s quite frustrating. I’ve tried everything to get a cooked veggie down his throat and now give up,” she shared with Oakville News.
On his birthday, Mikey got a chia pet (terracotta figurines used to sprout chia) and loved watching it grow. “Soon after, we brainstormed that he might actually eat a veggie he grew. Next, I bought some pea seeds that we planted and watched growing,” she continued. As a family, they started snipping off a few leaves at dinners and called it “Mikey’s salad.” And the plan is working so far!
They plan to grow some broccoli microgreens this week as a March break activity.
A mom of two boys, Cindy’s experience summarizes the frustrating journey of several parents who have tried the hardest or the most creative ways to feed their children greens! Considering what fussy-eaters kids mostly are when it comes to vegetables, this local mom gives hope to many others for a home-grown solution, in a literal sense too.
We spoke with several parents in our town and discovered that microgreens (crops grown and harvested at an immature stage) are their latest favorite and savior!
“Microgreens are baby veggies, and their flavor is quite mild. Despite being small, they are packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, and phytonutrients offering 10-40 times the nutrients as the mature counterpart,” Haley McKenna, a nutritionist and mompreneur pointed out.
Read more at oakvillenews.org