History Main / KidsHateVegetables

* ''Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection'': In the book ''Meet Molly'', Molly [=McIntire=] is disgusted by the sight of the orange-colored blob of mashed turnips that the family's housekeeper Mrs. Gilford had made for dinner and refuses to eat it. Mrs. Gilford tries to shame Molly for being wasteful and unpatriotic, as this is taking place during World War II and the turnips came from their very own "victory garden". The trope is zigzagged a bit, as Molly's three siblings don't seem to have a problem with eating the turnips.

* ''Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection'': In the book ''Meet Molly", Molly [=McIntire=] is disgusted by the sight of the orange-colored blob of mashed turnips that the family's housekeeper Mrs. Gilford had made for dinner and refuses to eat it. Mrs. Gilford tries to shame Molly for being wasteful and unpatriotic, as this is taking place during World War II and the turnips came from their very own "victory garden".

Overlaps with DoesNotLikeSpam and PickyEater. Subtrope of StockYuck. May involve GreensPrecedeSweets if dessert is used as a bribe. Also possibly related to IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou and DisgustingVegetarianFood.

* ''Irmão Do Jorel'': In one episode, Jorel's brother is forced to eat his broccoli by his mom, but he refuses to eat it and gets grounded without playing with toys.

In fiction, children tend to have a disgust for vegetables and dread the moment they're served for dinner or lunch. It could be that they're {{Picky Eater}}s or their taste buds just are more sensitive to bitter tastes, which are found in many vegetables. Or their parents (usually the mom in fiction) has [[LethalChef poor culinary skills]] and [[MessOnAPlate cooks them to an unappetizing mush]]. Whatever the cause, they will devise a mischievous plot behind their parents' back to get rid of them, [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin which usually never ends well]]. This can often be used as an exploitative device for [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood parents or babysitters]] to torture disobedient kids, though in most cases they just want to ensure a healthy diet in children to assist in their growth. Oftentimes, the kids will resort to [[LoopholeAbuse hiding the vegetables, feeding them to a pet, putting them on a sibling's plate, or using a junk food condiment to diminish the squeamish flavor]]. In many cases, a dislike of vegetables as a teenager or adult is used to indicate lingering immaturity in a character.

->''"[[Music/AesopRock Ian]], why don't you say grace" \\
Dear God: thanks, and [[SillyPrayer if you loved me, vegetables would be extinct]] \\
Now I'm looking down the barrel of a string-bean side \\

-->-- Music/AesopRock, "Grace"

In fiction, children tend to have a disgust for vegetables and dread the moment they're served for dinner or lunch. It could be that they're {{Picky Eater}}s or their taste buds just are more sensitive to bitter tastes, which are found in many vegetables. Or their parents (usually the mom in fiction) has [[LethalChef poor culinary skills]] and [[MessOnAPlate cooks them to an unappetizing mush]]. Whatever the cause, they will devise a mischievous plot behind their parents' back to get rid of them, [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin which usually never ends well]]. This can often be used as an exploitative device for [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood parents or babysitters]] to torture disobedient kids, though in most cases they just want to ensure a healthy diet in children to assist in their growth. Oftentimes, the kids will resort to [[LoopholeAbuse hiding the vegetables, feeding them to a pet, putting them on a sibling's plate, or using a junk food condiment to diminish the squeamish flavor]].

In Japanese media, this primarily is focused on bell peppers and carrots. To the point that in many cases, a dislike of those foods as a teenager or adult is used to indicate lingering immaturity in a character.

* In the children's picture book ''How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans'', Martha absolutely hates eating green beans and fights tooth and nail to avoid them. But one day a gang of outlaw green beans invades her town and abducts everyone who ever told people to eat green beans, including her parents. Martha soon realizes that if she's going to defeat the green beans and get her parents back, there's only one way to do it...by, you guessed it, eating them.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Smolyne/comments/hcthi3/smolyne_doesnt_want_to_be_stronk_like_ocean_man/ this]] ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fan comic, Jolyne doesn't want to eat her vegetables. Her mom tries to get her to eat them by saying that she will grow up to be big and strong like her dad Jotaro if she does, but it backfires when Jolyne imagines herself as a big muscular BrawnHilda and starts to cry at the thought of that happening.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' episode "Pups Save a Toof", Ryder says that [[AbsurdPhobia he fears Brussels sprouts]]. He then proceeds to eat one so that he can teach Alex about [[FaceYourFears facing your fears]]. Unfortunately, Alex isn't convinced.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In the episode "Pickles vs. Pickles", after Drew and Charlotte send Angelica to her room without dessert for refusing to eat her broccoli, Angelica sues them. The surrounding media circus warps things and blows them out of proportion and the judge is taken in by Angelica's cuteness and sides with her. Drew goes crazy and is dragged off to prison screaming "I'm a good father!". Of course, it was AllJustADream, but the episode ends with Angelica being apologized to and it is implied that Drew has a very weak will which Angelica can manipulate this way for every vegetable.

** In an episode of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'', we learn that Aguri Madoka and Ai-chan both hate carrots. Later in the episode, both of them learn to love carrots after thinking of all the effort people make to grow them.
** Episode 26 of ''Anime/DeliciousPartyPrettyCure'' deals with Kome Kome and Kokone trying to overcome their hatred of green peppers.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls1998'': In "Beat Your Greens", the Girls refuse to eat their vegetables, until Townsville is attacked by aliens that resemble them. They and the other kids eventually discover that the only way to defeat them is to eat them, and after that they love vegetables.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Probe displayed a slideshow to his boss Adu Du about the horrible things humans do to green aliens like him, [[HumansThroughAlienEyes unaware at the time that it was simply broccoli]]. One of the slides displayed a young child leaning away in fear from the broccoli being served to him.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Misty (who is around Ash's age) mentions that she does not like peppers and carrots when she's ranting about [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes how much she hates bug-type Pokémon]].

This can very much be TruthInTelevision, as anyone who remembers their childhood can attest to.

->''"Ian, why don't you say grace" \\
"Dear God: thanks, and [[SillyPrayer if you loved me, vegetables would be extinct]]" \\

-->-- "Grace," Music/AesopRock

-->'''Anger:''' Congratulations, San Francisco! '''YOU'VE RUINED PIZZA!''' First the Hawaiians, ''and now you.''

->''"I hate vegetables!"''
-->-- '''Caillou''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}''

* The Music/PreschoolPopstars song "Wait Until I Cook It" features a little girl of preschool age saying that she's so hungry that she'd "even" eat vegetables, implying that she usually wouldn't.

* In an episode of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'', we learn that Aguri Madoka and Ai-chan both hate carrots. Later in the episode, both of them learn to love carrots after thinking of all the effort people make to grow them.

%% **[[side note]]But then again, carrots aren’t all that good for rabbits due to their high sugar levels.[[/side note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls'': In "Beat Your Greens", the Girls refuse to eat their vegetables, until Townsville is attacked by aliens that resemble them. They and the other kids eventually discover that the only way to defeat them is to eat them, and after that they love vegetables.

* "The Etiology and Treatment of Childhood" by Jordan W. Smoller, a pseudoscientific spoof of behavioral psychology, names [[ExpospeakGag "legume anorexia"]] (i.e. the refusal of children to eat their vegetables) as the fifth out of five clinical markers of childhood to be used in a proposed DSM-IV definition. This condition was reportedly measured through a Vegetable Appetite Test devised by a researcher credited as [[Franchise/{{Popeye}} Popeye, T.S.M.]], who is cited for articles on the use of spinach.

* "The Etiology and Treatment of Childhood", a pseudoscientific spoof by Jordan W. Smoller names "[[ExpospeakGag legume anorexia]]" (i.e. the refusal of children to eat their vegetables) as the fifth out of five clinical markers of childhood to be used in a proposed DSM-IV definition. This condition was reportedly measured through a Vegetable Appetite Test devised by a researcher credited as [[Franchise/{{Popeye}} Popeye, T.S.M.]], who is cited for articles on the subject of spinach.

* ''Franchise/HelloKitty'': In the series ''Growing Up with Hello Kitty'', the episode "Eating Our Vegetables" reveals that the twins hate tomatoes and bell peppers, their classmates all hate various vegetables, and ''none'' of them like bell peppers. However, the twins' mother always looks sad whenever they don't eat their vegetables, so they decide to force them down anyway.