Ana and Eva are both more-or-less vegetarian

[conuly]

Neither of them is 100% on the no-meat front, but they're sincerely trying to cut down on how much of that they eat. (Alas, my mother wants meat at every meal, and while I say "If I can't make everybody happy I'll have to settle for making myself happy instead", in practice I've started trying to alternate meat nights with no-meat nights, with the missing-out party having to eat the sides.) Today we had pasta with vegetables and pancetta, which is great because everybody will eat it and it's easy for me to just serve the kids first and then dump the pancetta in the pot for the rest of us.

Eva, perhaps predictably, ate her pasta, nibbled her peppers, and went to eat an orange. "Why'd you put spinach in this!?"

"Because spinach is good for you. It's got lots of iron, calcium, vitamin c, and fiber. Oh, and potassium too!"
"Blech."
"Well, you know, Eva, vegetarian means you eat vegetables."
"But spinach isn't a vegetable!"
"What?"
"You can't cut it, and anyway, vegetables are more fruity."
"More... fruity?"
"Like bell peppers and cucumbers. They have seeds. Spinach is leaves."

I don't know where she got this interesting idea from either.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

So she wants to be a fruititarian or a seedatarian? (grin)

[conuly]

Don't ask me!

[alatefeline]

Lolololol. People eat LOTS of parts of a plant, my dear!

[conuly]

I tried to explain, but we segued into a discussion of what, precisely, constitutes "herbs".

[solarbird]

But spinach is leaves!

[conuly]

That's how you know it's a vegetable!

[novel_machinist]

oh, that's darling XD

[conuly]

The two of them aren't often cute kids anymore.

[chanter1944]

*snitches the spinach* Spinach, IMO, beats the pants off lettuce in sandwiches. Plus the already-mentioned armful of iron. :)

[conuly]

Forgot about the vitamin A.

[dragonyphoenix]

Only the yummy vegetables are true veggies. I like it.

[conuly]

Spinach IS yummy, and healthy!

[notasupervillain]

I like the way Eva thinks. I approve.

[conuly]

I'm not entirely sure how she thinks, to be honest. I now feel the need to drag her into the produce section and ask her about each item individually.

[low_delta]

She's right, though - cucumbers and peppers are fruits.

For the food groups at dinnertime, my wife puts potatoes and corn into the starch category, along with breads. She always tries to have a meat, a vegetable and a starch.

[conuly]

They're botanical fruits. They are not fruits in a culinary sense. Neither of which has anything to do with whether or not spinach is a vegetable.

I presume that if you had a vegetarian over and served eggs those would be, for the sake of meal planning, slotted in the same place as "meat". What about if you had cooked dried beans?

[shadowkat]

She hasn't figured out yet that being a vegetarian -- she has to get "protein" somewhere.

[conuly]

Spinach isn't a notable source of protein.

[chez_jae]

I agree with the 'spinach is leaves' bit. Ha ha! I do like raw spinach, but if it's cooked...yick.

[conuly]

In this case I tossed it in after draining the pasta, so it just wilted a little.

[archangelbeth]

Toasted spinach and cooked spinach was better than leafy, but it took me some time -- despite being vegetarian -- to actually like it much. Bitter stuff.

Might be a mouthfeel thing?

[conuly]

It tastes very bland to me. That's why it blends so well in smoothies.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

That sounds like time for a game of "animal, vegetable or mineral".

[conuly]

Spinach has so much iron and calcium it's an honorary mineral.

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

But... she's right. Spinach is not a vegetable. It's a green. A leaf. Basically a salad. Vegetables are three-dimensional, not two-dimensional. You can cube them. I mean - yes, a vegetarian would eat spinach, and lettuce, and parsley, and dill, but not because dill is a vegetable. A vegetarian would eat a raspberry as well, and that doesn't make raspberries vegetables.

[conuly]

You and Eva are quite literally the only two people I've ever heard express that idea. The usual definition of vegetable is something more like "Any part of a plant or fungus that is habitually eaten fresh, in savory preparations, and is not more commonly considered a grain, herb, or fruit." Which includes all greens, sometimes called "leaf vegetables".