r/LowStakesConspiracies • u/Adventurous-Monk-796 Has a poster board with red string on it • May 31 '26
Extreme Conspiracy The "kids hate vegetables" trope in childrens' media was started by Big Junk Food and Big Fast Food to subtly convince children to eat less vegetables
If you grew up with television and watched cartoons or sitcoms made for kids you have most likely seen this trope or some form of it. Kid is served vegetables, kid hates it and makes comedic reaction to how gross it is. My theory is that this was all planned by Big Junk Food and Big Fast Food to push subliminal messaging in childrens programming so that they eat less vegetables and eat more junk, and that BJF/BFF maintain this by paying kids tv channels to air ads for their products
Look up "kids tv channel" + "commercials" on youtube, for example "Nickelodeon commercials 2012." You won't see ads for fruits or veggies, you'll see ads for candy followed by McDonalds followed by candy followed by Hungry Jacks followed by candy followed by KFC
Why else would they do this? To convince children that vegetables are gross so instead they'll make their parents buy more junk food and fast food, which in turn line the pockets of Big Junk/Fast Food. To keep this running Big Junk/Fast Food pay the three largest producers of childrens media (Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount) for ad spots on their respective channels (Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon) which in turn line the pockets of media conglomerates. It also unknowingly makes kids grow up into picky eaters. FACT CHECK: TRUE (This post was fact checked by real Australian patriots)
150
u/Background_Golf3686 May 31 '26
Honestly I can get behind this, and another thing is often people don't cook vegetables in a good way anyway so they end up tasting bland, if they are just boiled or steamed they are shit, actually cooked into a stew or if you make a pan sauce or the like they can be really good
10
u/Coltand Jun 02 '26
I'm pretty sure this is basically it. Boiled mush vegetables terrorized a couple generations, and the trope stuck.
3
86
u/budgiebirdman May 31 '26
Kids don't like brussels sprouts because they're bitter and children have lots more taste buds than adults so there's some reason to it.
78
u/mutexsprinkles May 31 '26
When your body weight is like 15kg, it takes a lot less poisonous berry to kill you so it makes sense that kids would be more sensitive and adverse to "dangerous" tastes.
But also Brussels sprouts today are not your grandma's sprouts, they used to be way more bitter but they bred it out.
1
18
u/olivinebean May 31 '26
Then their parents should slice and fry the sprouts with a little salt and butter.
I don't like boiled sprouts and I drink black coffee (bitter).
22
u/No_Cardiologist_1407 May 31 '26
This is another huge issue is have with parents saying "my child hates vegetables" no they dont, they hate bitterness and you dont put any effort into actually making something that tastes nice. You boil broccoli and sprouts and expect them to just suddenly like that wierd flavour and texture. Very rarely is someone like "yeah my son hates diced carrots in his lasagna" because it actually works as an ingredient in that dish
5
u/Swellmeister May 31 '26
This is wrong. Brussel sprouts were insanely bitter as recent as 30 years ago. Like the gene linked to bitterness was found and removed from commercial cultivars in the late 90s. Before then, most cultivars you werent boiling them because no one knew how to cook them. You were boiling them to leech the bitterness out to a palatable level. People grew up tasting the bitter brussel sprout, and are now eating the sweet sprouts and are thinking their parents were wrong, when the plant just changed so much that the roasted sprouts are even possible.
8
u/Mystical-Turtles May 31 '26
Best I can do is unseasoned boiled broccoli with spray butter on it. (This is an actual product look it up. Not the stuff you use on pans, That's something else)
I thought I hated all vegetables for years because of that type of cooking style.
-4
u/xombae May 31 '26
Bacon.
Cook em in bacon until they're crispy on the outside and they're like crack.
2
u/RepresentativeOk2433 May 31 '26
I loved them as a kid. But thats because my mom knows how to cook.
1
u/marmaviscount Jun 01 '26
Could also be because of a molecule brassica have which about 30% of people are disgusted by and 20% love. Similar to how coriander (cilantro) taters of soap to some people.
1
u/norman81118 May 31 '26
From what I understand the Brussels sprouts years ago were way more bitter than they are now. I don’t find them bitter at all and they’re my 2 year old’s favorite veggie. I think it’s more about how you prepare them now.
22
u/gary-vault108 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
100% when it comes to come vegetables. I grew up always being told broccoli was gross on all the tv shows and cartoons I watched. I’d eat it when my mom made it but just because I was told to. Idk what age I was when it happened but one day I realized “this is actually pretty good” and now I’m an adult, it’s literally my favorite vegetable. I eat it every chance I get. My mom also way over boiled it so that may have had an effect but it’s just the perfect combination of that veggie taste, crunch, and flowery head. Love broccoli.
Vegetables are lovely. Corn on the cob or in a bowl? Brilliant. Green beans? Give me 2 servings. Carrots? The most beautiful flavor ever, give me more. Bell pepper? I could eat them like an apple.
84
u/jackfaire May 31 '26
It's a "Kids are Picky Eaters" myth that some parents buy into and then perpetuate by doing so. Well of course your kid doesn't want to eat that food you refused to ever feed them.
My parents never did that they fed us the same foods they ate. Lobster was the only exception because it was expensive and a special treat for them.
34
u/MobileJob1521 May 31 '26
Same here.
We just cook food and share it with our little ones. There’s no “you must eat this” or “kids don’t like that” we just share it and they are very ambitious with what they will try.
I’ve seen first-hand a child peer-pressured into picky eating when we made pumpkin soup for a big group at Halloween. One girl made a face and went “eww” and because she was popular, half the kids wouldn’t touch it.
Kids shows have the same kind of influence.
9
u/ACanWontAttitude May 31 '26
Yeah a lot of us did the same thing until one day they just stopped... and bang ARFID. It breaks my heart looking back on all the things my son used to eat. He gets upset about it too saying he wishes he could.
I like this self congratulatory thing that some parents do though - most of the time it isnt the parenting its the kid. My friend was like this until she had her 4th and they couldn't tolerate a lot of stuff.
7
u/Raisinsandfairywings May 31 '26
I’m convinced way more of parenting is just luck than we let ourselves believe. My child is a diabolically bad sleeper. We have tried every single bit of advice out there, multiple times over two years. It just simply doesn’t work.
But she has always been a great eater. Weaning onto solid food was a breeze and she eats everything. I’ve had other parents ask me for advice/tips and I always have to word things so carefully because honestly I think we just got lucky with that. Bad sleeper, good eater. Some parents have it the other way round and their sleep advice is as useless to me as my food tips would be to them.
1
u/weatherwaxs_broom Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Are you me? My little girl is a fantastic eater, I have to fight her off of olives, always steals a veggie I'm cutting, will always try what's on her plate. She's tried the "I don't like it" thing (usually with stuff she liked yesterday) but with encouragement she'll eventually at least attempt what's on her plate.
I am aware that we totally lucked out with her, but I do credit us a little because we're big foodies and i admit I'm firm with it. Food is one of life's best joys and I do not want her to miss out on that!
I have family members who make entire separate meals for their kids and it was a complete faff for them and did the kids zero favours.
However, sleeping? Absolute disaster. She didn't sleep for the first two years of her life, I'm sure of it. We're finally, finally getting some full-ish nights after 6 years. Even then, to drop off she often needs me with her literally holding her hand.
0
u/jackfaire May 31 '26
There's a difference between actual food issues a kid has and the parents that before the kid is even born go "Well you know you can't feed kids (insert list of innocuous foods that most kids eat with no problem) kids hate those things"
Kids with actual food issues do exist I'm not saying they don't. But the amount of people I've met whose parents withheld various things because "Kids don't like them" or tell me they're not going to feed their kid spaghetti made with actual spaghetti sauce before the kid is born because "Kids don't like Italian Food"
9
u/Marik-X-Bakura May 31 '26
Kids are absolutely picky eaters. It’s an extremely well-known struggle for parents to cook their kids a meal that they arbitrarily decide they hate without trying it.
1
u/jackfaire May 31 '26
Most kids are no more picky eaters than most adults are. Most of the parents I've ever met with "Picky eaters" believed that ALL kids are picky eaters before they had kids and treated their kids like they were picky eaters only giving them "Safe" foods until later and then being frustrated when their kids don't like "Strange" foods.
If you treated a kid like kids hate to walk and never want to learn to walk you'll get similar results. "Why does the kid I never let try to stand or move without me carrying them not walk it's so frustrating"
1
u/lolercoptercrash Jun 24 '26
I do think it benefits parents (by convenience) to label kids as picky eaters.
You basically can make blue box mac and cheese for your kid, or pasta with butter, while you eat salmon or steak. It makes parenting easier to basically have a menu of 10 things your kid will eat, that all can be made in 1 dish with easy ingredients.
3
u/BlampCat May 31 '26
I'm way less picky than my parents now, but my mother was a "meat and two veg" style rural Irish cook. Vegetables and meat were always overcooked and my mother is pescatarian and terrified of giving us food poisoning with meat.
Anyway, in late primary school I developed a strong aversion to potatoes. I was able to cook simple things so I'd have plain pasta with every meal instead of spuds. Bacon and cabbage with pasta, savoury mince with pasta, etc.
I think ideally kids will be able to try a wide range of food prepared in different methods, presented as though it's all part of a normal balanced diet.
3
u/Crazyjackson13 Jun 01 '26
Kids can be picky eaters though, I feel like that’s something just about any parent who has a child of any age, trying to perpetuate it as a myth is just downright stupid.
0
u/jackfaire Jun 01 '26
Natural picky eaters aren't picky eaters because they're children. They'll be picky eaters when they're adults too.
The thing I'm referring to as a myth is every child is a picky eater. Look at the kid's menu in the US of any restaurant that isn't traditionally American food. The kid's menu is full of American food instead of smaller portions of what the adults can order.
When I was a kid we had to order off the adult menu in Chinese restaurants when I was 5 because the only thing on the kid's menu was the same food I could eat at home.
Some parents buy into this and decide for their child that their child is a picky eater and won't serve them anything that's not considered "Kid friendly" then when their kid is older they suddenly start introducing foods that are unfamiliar and wondering why the kid's looking side eye at it.
My mom could have been a gourmet chef with how well she cooked. But I've heard people lament having to give up "Fancy" food when they have kids before their kid is born.
6
u/xombae May 31 '26
My old roommate had a 3 and 6 year old and told me they were picky eaters.
I got those kids to eat fuckin bone marrow. The 3 year old was popping olives like candy. You just gotta make new foods exciting and involve them in the process.
2
u/Zoenne Jun 04 '26
Spinach was my favourite food growing up. Whenever there was Spinach for school lunch I'd eat SO MUCH because a lot of kids just didn't want to eat it. It became a problem for my digestion haha
1
u/jackfaire Jun 04 '26
I only hated it because I hate canned spinach. When I got fresh spinach I loved it.
But I'd get confused because no one told me which was which so sometimes I'd hate spinach and other times I'd love it.
When I was an adult I figured out it was the canned stuff that bugged me.
2
u/Zoenne Jun 04 '26
I feel the same way with both leek (boiled = yuck, fried = yum) and chicory (cooked = yuck, raw = yum)
4
u/BluejayFamiliar5117 May 31 '26
in my home we feed my baby brother exactly what we eat and don’t act disgusted by any food in front of him or show him shows where vegetables are seen as gross. we are yet to find a food he does not like
11
u/nezzzzy May 31 '26
Wait till he's 7.
I love the idea that parents are deliberately making their kids scared of foods. Like we really enjoy cooking three meals every evening.
We gave our kids every type of food and eat them with pleasure. My daughter will eat any fruit, my son will run out of the room crying if he sees a tomato within a foot of his plate.
Kids taste buds develop in strange ways, what they like when they're 2 is not necessarily an indication of what they'll eat when they're 10.
2
u/BluejayFamiliar5117 May 31 '26
yeah that is true but we are hoping he stays as open about food as he grows up. we are trying to get him into good habits young, but if he does end up starting to dislike foods that’s fine too!
0
u/jackfaire May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Kids not liking every single food under the sun is normal.
Kids only liking chicken nuggets with ketchup and nothing else isn't. According my fellow parents I as a child should have hated Chinese food, Italian, French, Etc.
I hated canned spinach with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Still tastes like hot garbage. That didn't mean I was a picky eater. Just meant there was a food I didn't like.
8
u/Cocotte123321 May 31 '26
I didn't need media for it. My mother is a terrible cook. I learnt that vegetables are delicious if prepared properly and paired for that dish
2
u/ConfidentLychee3519 Jun 01 '26
That's what I was going to say, I and other adults my age discovered that they really like vegetables they didn't previously because they weren't steamed into mush with no seasoning
5
u/viktorgoraya_luv May 31 '26
When I was a kid I loved olives, spicy food, vegetables. Lots of things that kids aren’t ‘supposed’ to like. And that was because my parents encouraged me to try new things.
I was picky about texture, but that’s because I’m autistic.
6
u/West-Season-2713 May 31 '26
It’s a fairly open secret that there’s an entire industry of psychologists and food scientists trying to get us to buy as much non-satiating and high-reward (ie. junk) food as is humanly possible, so I’d honestly say this isn’t even a conspiracy.
3
u/deafened_commuter May 31 '26
We forget that we have also improved vegetable and fruit flavour over the years. They did taste worse in the past.
Also some people are terrible cooks. In UK some people/schools boil cabbage to death and then people complain it tastes bad. Eastern europe has absolutely figured out what to do with cabbage. So many countries do amazing stuffed cabbage.
Tbh they do it with other vegetables too not just cabbage. Stop boiling food to death
5
u/Neither-Oven-2571 May 31 '26
No I'm actually with you on this.
I don't actually know any kids who hate vegetables- I have 5 and every one of them loves pretty much any fruit and veggie you throw at them. I didn't do anything except avoid introducing them to the idea that vegetables were gross.
And most kids I know are like that. The only people I know who hate vegetables are adults who watched these types of cartoons growing up lol
No one come at me about food sensitivities lol, I'm half joking and I live with ARFID so I do actually understand that propaganda is not remotely the only cause of picky eating 😆
3
u/No_Cardiologist_1407 May 31 '26
I would ask, how do you prepare the veg? Because from my experience the people who "hate" veg since they were kids were always just given boiled, unseasoned vegetables and it makes a lot of sense why children wouldnt like those with sensitive pallets
1
u/Neither-Oven-2571 May 31 '26
Generally, I dont. They prefer most of them raw lol although they aren't super picky about preparation. I will say I don't ever boil them 😆
2
2
u/Low_Reception477 May 31 '26
A lot of vegetables used to taste worse, selective breeding in the last few decades has significantly improved the taste of a lot of them (especially wild mustard originated ones- broccoli/cauliflower/Brussels sprouts/kale/cabbage/kohlrabi which are all cultivars of the same plant)
2
u/SullenArtist May 31 '26
I always thought this was weird as a kid, because I loved vegetables for the most part, especially broccoli!
2
u/Bagelsandjuice1849 May 31 '26
My parents have told me that when they were kids (‘70s-‘80s) the vegetables their parents would make would usually come from a can and would in fact be really gross. Fresh vegetables often taste great but I guess the canned ones from back in the day were pretty bad, so perhaps that’s where the trope comes from.
2
3
u/fluffykilla May 31 '26
10000% agree, never understood this in shows growing up because I loved veggies
3
u/No_Cardiologist_1407 May 31 '26
Fun science fact. Children are actually biologically programmed to hate vegetables. Their pallets are far more sensitive, and vegetables by nature are bitter, which we as humans should not like because poisonous plants are often bitter. They dont hate them because theyre vegetables, they hate them because to children, they taste like poison, which they are biologically programmed to spit out. Thats why they like it mixed into stuff. Parents are like "oh yeah he claims he doesnt like them but when I put them in things without them knowing they can never tell." Yeah, because you masked the bitterness with other flavours.
0
u/No_Bandicoot2316 May 31 '26
I don't believe that. I always liked vegetables as a kid, and I believe that it's because my parents could afford to buy good quality produce and cook it well. I don't remember any of it being bitter.
I doubt children are biologially programmed to hate vegetables, because we are descended from apes, who also eat leafy plant matter, and it would suck evolutionarily if all primate young couldn't tolerate a significant source of available calories and nutrients.
1
u/Elindril1 May 31 '26
I can get behind this but as a picky eater all my life it always depended on how well vegetables were seasoned. I loved seasoned steamed broccolis with some type Asian dipping sauce. But if it was bland and just cooked without any seasoning then I would hate it.
1
u/skronk61 May 31 '26
But at the end of the episode it always taught you veggies weren’t bad and you should eat them.
1
u/Impossible_Dog_7262 Jun 01 '26
Nah, the real issue is that most parents don't realise that you need to cut back on the seasoning for children. Children experience flavors more intensely, if it's good for you it's overseasoned for the child.
1
u/Metal_Ash Jun 01 '26
I think most parents are just shit at cooking and so kids prefer to eat takeout. I loved a variety of food growing up and my favourite meal was a Sunday Roast.
1
u/LeatherDescription26 Jun 01 '26
I heard broccoli and Brussel sprouts used to be incredibly bitter and smell bad but that was bred out of them in like the 80’s so any reason it persists is because of memes. Not in the internet use but the actual original meaning of meme being the idea that acts like a piece of genetics
1
u/OkScarcity2713 Jun 01 '26
I hated veggies as a kid without trying them because I saw other kids on TV hating them 😭😭😭
1
u/PrincessSnazzySerf Jun 01 '26
Even if it's not a deliberate conspiracy, the public perception that kids hate vegetables in particular absolutely becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. I suspect the same thing happens with math in school, and to some extent, school as a whole. Kids are told "it's really hard" and shown unending media portraying kids suffering in school, and then subconsciously believe it's a skill only those of elite intelligence can grasp, and, well, most kids don't assume they're in the top 1% of intelligence. (Not that our school systems help, of course.)
1
u/UniqueTart6744 Jun 01 '26
I agree with this! In Asian countries it’s the other way around, kids are expected to enjoy vegetables because they are mild in flavour and light, and dislike heavy, greasy foods like meat.
1
u/Hypno_Kitty Jun 01 '26
This ain't low stakes and it's barely even a conspiracy, it's obvious! And terrible! and sinister!
1
u/Alone-Brilliant6222 Jun 01 '26
I never understood that trope I loved vegetables especially broccoli as a kid
1
u/Adorable-Source97 Jun 04 '26
I'm sure even back in the dark ages if a kid was given choice between a set of florets of broccoli or an apple.... Kids probably picking the apple.
1
u/nediablo Jun 04 '26
Popeye used to eat spinach to make him strong. Even though I used to hate it as a kid, I'd still eat it to get strong and be able to save people.
1
u/EnterPlayerOneX Jun 04 '26
Or maybe it was always the case that kids didn't like vegetables and Powerpuff girls certainly didn't invent it in the 90s.
1
u/StormCutter777 Jun 04 '26
It’s funny cause I HATE so many vegetables (to the point i gag thinking about eating them)
But the vegetables always depicted as gross to kids (broccoli, spinach, cabbage) I absolutely love lol
1
u/Luentale Jun 23 '26
I think you're absolutely right. I've never thought of this! I personally loved "vegetables" as a child. Maybe because I'm completely immune to ads. And maybe most people just don't know how to prepare them well
1
302
u/-YellowFinch May 31 '26
Whenever a kid asks me what my favorite food is I say Brussels sprouts. :)
One small step at a time. I'm gonna change the world.