Getting kids excited about fruits and vegetables doesn’t have to mean hiding them, bribing them, or turning dinner into a battle. After years of watching kids discover new foods, I’ve found that a little curiosity, fun, and repeated exposure can go a surprisingly long way.

  1. Grow a vegetable garden

This might be the most effective tip of all for converting a picky eater, and admittedly, one of most work! But there’s something magical about growing food yourself. I’ve seen so many kids get genuinely excited about eating lettuce simply because they grew it at school.

One time, I harvested a single banana pepper from my son’s school garden and suddenly had 20 eager kids asking if they could have a bite. Every. Single. One. wanted to try it. Even the kids who didn’t end up liking it were willing to taste it, and that willingness is a win!

  1. Let other kids do the convincing

There’s something powerful about seeing your friends eat and enjoy something new. Kids are often much more willing to try a fruit or vegetable when they see other kids doing it too.

That’s one reason videos like Copy-Kids, where children watch other children eat fruits and veggies, can be so effective. And I see this happen all the time when we sample produce in classrooms.

Parents often tell me, “My kid doesn’t like persimmons.” But when I bring persimmons into a classroom, talk to the kids about the fruit, and let them watch their friends try one, every single child usually takes a bite. And more than half often raise their hands when I ask if they liked it! Sometimes it just takes seeing someone else go first.

  1.  Play with your food!

Food doesn’t always have to be serious. Cut fruits and veggies into fun shapes, make little faces on plates, create art with veggie pieces, add googly eyes, or turn green beans into teeth.

My mother-in-law always said she got her kids to eat vegetables by making a face on their plate and saying, “Whatever you do, don’t eat his ears!”

Well, guess what? They ate the broccoli ears.

A little silliness can make a new food feel like play instead of something they’re being told they have to eat.

  1. Exposure, exposure, exposure

Keep fruits and vegetables around where kids can see them, touch them and get curious about them. Put a single cherry tomato on their plate. Leave a bowl of fruit within reach. Let them choose something new at the grocery store.

And if you get a CSA box, let them be the one to open it each week. There’s something exciting about discovering what’s inside, maybe even finding something they’ve never seen before.

As I write this, we’re celebrating our 16th year of watching kids discover new foods through our boxes. We’ve seen kids go from “What is that?” to eating a whole carrot, greens and all, straight out of the box.

You don’t need them to love everything right away. The goal is to keep giving them opportunities to discover.

  1. Try changing the preparation

Sometimes it isn’t the vegetable they dislike, it’s how it’s being served.

Maybe they won’t eat a raw bell pepper. What about one that’s roasted? Or blended into a tomato sauce? Maybe they don’t like steamed broccoli, but they’ll happily eat it roasted until the edges get crispy.

There’s a whole book by Jessica Seinfeld about hiding vegetables in foods, but sometimes you don’t have to hide anything at all. Even something as simple as changing the shape or using a crinkle cutter can make a familiar food feel completely new.

Cut a persimmon or apple through the middle and you’ll find a beautiful little star. Slice cucumbers differently and suddenly they can seem like an entirely different food, peeled or unpeeled, sliced into rounds, cut into sticks, or served seed-side up.

Sometimes the smallest change is enough to make a kid curious enough to take a bite.

Ready to try vegetables in a new way? Here are a few of our fan-favorite recipes to help mix things up:

Keep Exploring, One Bite at a Time

The biggest lesson I’ve learned through our farm-to-school program is that kids are far more curious about fruits and vegetables when they have a chance to experience them, not just see them sitting on a plate. Whether it’s growing lettuce at school, tasting a new fruit with friends, or opening a weekly fruit and vegetable box and discovering what’s inside, those little moments of curiosity can turn into a lifelong love of good food.

You don’t have to get your child to love every vegetable overnight. Keep offering, keep experimenting, keep making it fun and celebrate every tiny win along the way. Sometimes one bite is all it takes to discover a new favorite.

Ready to make produce discovery part of your weekly routine? 🍎

If you’re not already a Good Box customer, our curated organic fruit and vegetable boxes bring a fresh mix of seasonal produce right to families across Los Angeles,  from Venice to the Valley and Pasadena to Westlake, to give kids something new to discover each week.

Take a peek inside this week’s box and see what’s growing!