Tip of the Ice berg

In the mission to get my child to eat a variety of foods, salad has been my Everest. Admittedly I have not been that diligent in my approach. I put salad in front of him when we are having it ourselves and I coax him to try, but I don't push, lest he dig his heels in. On a good day he might tolerate the presence of leaves on his plate. On a bad day he might demand like a dictator that I "Take THAT away!" The most I got him to do was lick dressing off a leaf once.

It's winter, so salad hasn't been making an appearance lately, mostly we have been having root vegetables and other cooked vegetables like broccoli and peas. That hasn't helped.

This week, my childcare provider sent me a text message at lunch time to tell me that my son had two helpings of salad. I am sure the other cubicle dwellers must of heard an audible 'WTF!' from my general direction. She clarified the message with the description: ice berg lettuce and French dressing.

Now I don't know about you, (and feel free to call me a food snob; you won't be the first), but ice berg lettuce has always been the low brow lettuce choice in my books. A couple of years ago my cooking magazines tried to convince me otherwise with fancy shots of ice berg lettuce halved and drenched in blue cheese dressings, but I wasn't converted.

So this week, motherhood reminded me (again) never to say never; I bought ice berg lettuce. I decided that as pot is to cocaine, ice berg lettuce is perhaps the gateway vegetable to romaine.

I will keep you posted.

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