According to conventional wisdom mothers have fought to get their little ones to eat veggies since before the earth was cooling. Cruciferous varieties, like broccoli and Brussels sprouts are often cited as particularly challenging. Last week at my nephew's tenth birthday party, I was reminded of his surprising appetite for a particular green. It's not broccoli, kale, spinach, or even broccoli rabe, my Sicilian father's favorite. I don't know where the little guy stands on those. The object of his appetite isn't even a vegetable. It's an herb. He goes gaga for fresh parsley.
What reminded me of his parsley passion, was the birthday present his Aunt Dawn gave him: two fresh bunches of parsley. Ever since he had it in a salad his grandmother made for him when he was six he's been a parsley fanatic. Besides wanting to make her nephew happy, one of the reasons for Aunt Dawn's gift is that he once ate the better part of her parsley patch before anyone noticed.
By now you're probably wondering why this kid likes to eat what many regard as mere garnish.Taking a break from his hectic Lego-building schedule he provided me with the following quote: "I like it because it doesn't have much of a taste. How can you dislike something that has no taste. And it's healthy."
As for me, I was never into fresh parsley as a kid. I was too involved with my own food quirks, like slicing a notch in apple and stuffing it with a slice of bologna.
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