Cheating on our Husbands

A couple of years ago Jessica Seinfeld and Missy Chase Lapine published cookbooks that explained to parents how to hide nutritious fruits and veggies in their children’s favorite foods. Think cauliflower macaroni and cheese, blueberry muffins with yellow squash, and brownies with carrot and spinach. The kids would eat their veggies and be none the wiser.

I’m on the fence about this practice (more on that later), but perusing Amazon today I ran across the title of another of Missy Chase Lapine’s books, and my jaw dropped: The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals Any Guy Will Love.

Sigh. Have we really come to this? Hiding broccoli in our husbands’ meatloaf?

If my husband didn’t eat a balanced diet I would do my best to tempt him to enjoy the delicious diversity of fresh produce. But I’m not going to treat him like a child and trick him. If I were a man, I would be insulted by this. As the cook of the family I would also be taken aback by the idea that my vegetables aren’t appealing enough on their own.

But, maybe that’s the solution. Instead of hiding greens in other foods, let’s just make them taste better! I’d bet that if most men (or veggie-averse women for that matter) were offered nutty roasted Brussels sprouts with shavings of parmigiano-reggiano, spicy sweet potato fries, or garlicky sautéed Tuscan kale they would happily eat their veggies – and even ask for seconds.

I’m sure most of Lapine’s recipes are delicious, and, in the end, I suppose it’s the premise that I disagree with more than the practice. If we both liked the “cauliflower sneaking into sesame noodles" then we would eat it regularly. But, I would hope that my husband was man enough to still enjoy the dish knowing there was cauliflower in it.