--- title: The Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables description: Researchers have found that the entree paired with vegetables is important in predicting whether a picky child will eat their veggies. canonical: https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-29T17:36:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:21:34.877Z article:section: Health og:title: The Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Their Vegetables og:description: Researchers say it's possible—as long as you know what to pair with the veggies og:url: https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a618dc8a176ff90/698865f6196cf4a10f038472/kid-veggie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Girl eating green peas with a fork og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Their Vegetables twitter:description: Researchers say it's possible—as long as you know what to pair with the veggies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a618dc8a176ff90/698865f6196cf4a10f038472/kid-veggie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Secret to Getting Kids to Eat More Veggies  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 29, 2015 5:36 PM UTC  Girl eating green peas with a fork Girl eating green peas with a forkGetty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Sep 29, 2015 5:36 PM UTC Getting kids to eat their vegetables isn’t a new problem—a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey noted that 9 out of ten children don’t get the recommended servings of vegetables. And elementary schools who’ve been mandated to include vegetables on lunches since 2013 have complained that students are leaving vegetables untouched on their lunch trays. But researchers at Texas A&M University [have found](http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=59100) perhaps the secret to getting kids to eat their veggies—and happily. They studied plate waste from 8,500 students and found that it’s what’s paired with veggies that makes a difference in whether kids consume them or not. Pair a cheeseburger or slice of pizza with the veggies, and don’t expect kids to even look at the salad. But put something less appetizing or popular to the kid palate, like a deli sandwich, and suddenly, vegetables don’t look so bad after all. And the opposite seems to hold true, too: favored vegetables—which tend towards the starchy, like baked potatoes—are gobbled up when entrees are less interesting. “Pairings of entrées and vegetables are an important consideration when assessing plate waste among elementary school children,” the researchers note. It’s one step towards lessening food waste at schools, which has [garnered increasing amounts of attention](http://www.d11.org/FNS/Recess%20Before%20Lunch/efan02009%20Plate%20Waste%20Study.pdf). Kids aren’t going to make healthy decisions overnight, the study acknowledges, but getting them there could just be a matter of thinking one step ahead in menu planning. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/"},"headline":"Here's the Secret to Getting Kids to Eat More Veggies","datePublished":"2015-09-29T17:36:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:21:34.877Z","description":"It all comes down to what food you pair with the veggies","url":"https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","Children","Public Health","Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a618dc8a176ff90/698865f6196cf4a10f038472/kid-veggie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a618dc8a176ff90/698865f6196cf4a10f038472/kid-veggie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Girl eating green peas with a fork","caption":"Girl eating green peas with a fork","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4054012/kids-eat-vegetables/","name":"Here's the Secret to Getting Kids to Eat More Veggies"}}]}] ```