A couple of things went wrong with this experiment. Clearly I haven’t learned my lesson about trying new foods when the kids are cranky and hungry. A worse mistake was to serve the squash alongside their favorite chicken dish. But then we started talking about “flesh”…human flesh (?)…and the jig was up. Better luck next time…
ME: Who knows what this is?
LAUREN: Squash.
ME: Yeah, it’s squash. What kind?
LAUREN: I don’t know what kind but… is it yellow?
ME: No it’s not Yellow Squash.
EMMA: GREEN SQUASH!
ME: No, it’s got a name… It’s got a special name like the fruit of a tree you know. What do Oak trees drop in our backyard at the lake?
ALL: (silence)
ME: What do the bears eat?
SAM: Acorns?
ME: Yep! This is Acorn Squash.
SAM: EWW. It’s made with acorns!
ME: It’s not made with acorns. What color is it?
SAM: Are we going to eat it?
ME: Yeah, we’re going to eat it.
[gasp]
ME: Don’t eat the skin, though. OK? But you can eat the orange part inside. OK?
EMMA: My tummy hurts!
ME: Everyone’s tummy hurts?
LAUREN: Not really mine…
ME: So, who is going to smell the inside of the orange flesh? Anyone want to smell it?
SAM: It’s made from a human?
ME: Why? Because I said flesh? No, it’s not made from a human. Do you think I would feed you human for dinner?
SAM: Umm… Yeah.
ME: [laughing] No, this is a vegetable. It’s grown. OK? Does anyone want to smell the orange part?
LAUREN: The human seed?
ME: Oh my gosh, you guys!
EMMA: Mommy, can I have no drumsticks, please?
ME: Nobody wants to try it? It was even cooked with the chicken, so it’s got a bit of a chicken-y flavor to it.
EMMA: I want just chicken.
ME: So, nobody wants a bite? Seriously? Emma’s going to have a bite.
EMMA: I’m not going to eat that.
ME: What’s so off-putting about the Acorn Squash?
SAM: It looks like brownies.
ME: Well, that should be a good thing, right?
SAM: It looks like loose brownies.
ME: OK. All right – I guess more for me then.
