Cheese and butter on my veggies? Woo hoo, at last a victory for common sense.

I never trust nutrition mavens who are so busy raving about cancer-fighting compounds that they forget to mention the most important thing --What Does it Taste Like? Food should be pleasurable, not miserable. Vegetables should be treated with respect and love, and garnished with a little bit of whatever makes them taste wonderful. The French and the Italians have always known this, and the people of India are masters of making vegetables taste absolutely amazing.

James Peterson has a cookbook called, simply, "Vegetables", that I recommend most highly. Too often, the veggie section in a cookbook stops at the basics of boiled carrots and overcooked cabbage. Peterson not only details each vegetable, he discusses the many cooking methods available. These are not necessarily vegetarian recipes -- he has a fondness for bacon and anchovies -- but all of the recipes treat the vegetable as the star of the dish. Yummy reading.

As a side note: When parents complain to me that their kids won't eat vegetables, I like to ask them what kind of veggies they are serving the little nippers. Usually, the answer is "Plain boiled/steamed broccoli/carrots/green beans" or whatever. I then ask the parents if they sit down and eat the poor dead floppy veggies with their child. Very few will actually be able to honestly answer yes; the parents tend to skip the veggies or eat them as a salad or in a casserole. C'mon, how can we expect the kids to eat lima beans if we won't??

I tell parents to jazz up the cooked veggies with things such as butter/salt/olive oil/cheese, and to make sure they are setting a good example by eating the results themselves. Older kids past the choking stage do well with crunchy raw vegetables and tasty dips. Everyone benefits!!