Tomatoes
Understanding Veg
What do pizza, ketchup and baked beans all have in common? They are all made with tomatoes. This incredibly flexible vegetable can be used raw in salads, is the basis of many sauces, is great in stews, and can even be juiced. No wonder it is the world’s number one, numero uno, vegetable – collectively, we humans eat 170 millions tonnes every year! Hang on, hang on – it’s not a vegetable, it’s a fruit! Well, botanically speaking it is, but in nutritional and culinary terms it’s a vegetable – it makes no sense, but we don’t care, because they are great.
Today the biggest tomato fight in the world happens each year in the small Spanish town of Buñol. The festival, called La Tomatina, involves some 40,000 people throwing 150,000 tomatoes at each other! Search out the videos online – it’s insane.
Tomatoes contain lycopene which gives them their red colouring, this compound has been linked to good eye and heart health.
Whole tomatoes are best kept on the counter until ripe, then either eat straightaway or move to the fridge for up to 1-2 weeks. Once cut, wrap tightly or place in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
Nutrition
Tomatoes are a source of vitamin C, which keeps our immune system working properly so we can fight illness and flu.
Shopping Guide
Try shopping for tomatoes that have a good weight for its size and ideally should be firm, whilst giving into any real pressure. Look out for dark spots and blemishes.
Storage
Whole tomatoes are best kept on the counter until ripe, then either eat straight away or move to the fridge for up to 1-2 weeks. Once cut, wrap tightly or place in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
Serving Suggestion
This incredibly flexible vegetable can be used raw in salads, is the basis of many sauces and is great in stews.
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May - December
Engage
Here are some of our favourite ways to engage kids with tomatoes:
Arts & Crafts
Start simple with some non-food based engagement. This is especially helpful for a fussier child or those with sensitivities around food. For tomatoes, why not try making a tomato veg crown?
Puzzles & Games
Puzzles and games are all about fun and centering them on veg brings a positive association with it. Like arts & crafts, this is great for those who aren’t yet ready to interact physically with the veg, but it can still be fun for all! For tomatoes, why not try our tomato Squash ‘Em game?
Science
Science allows for curiosity, play and hands-on experiments. It helps kids to become fascinated with veg – how it looks, reacts, smells, cooks and more. Finding fun and simple experiments to allow kids to play with their veg makes them curious about it and helps them approach it in a positive way.
Why not try growing your own tomatoes to explore how plants grow? We have loads of great tips and videos from our Growing To Love project to get you started – all you need are some tomato seeds! Plant them together and document their growth through video or writing.
Sensory
Sensory exploration can be a wonderful introduction to physically interacting with veg. Turn it into a positive, pressure-free experience by starting off with the golden rules of “You don’t need to try and you don’t need to like.” Reassuring a child that, while they have a chance to taste a veg, they don’t have to, and are not expected to like it if they do, can make them more happy to engage with it.
Explore the look of tomatoes by getting a couple of types of tomatoes, either in different colours or different sizes and shapes. See what they remind you of and how they compare to each other. If your child feels up to exploring through taste, you could talk about the different types of taste (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, savoury) and see what they get from tomatoes by eating, smelling or licking a piece. Tomatoes can vary from sweet (ripe) to sour (unripe) and even savoury, so this can be a great way to explore flavour preferences with a child.
Kids in the Kitchen
Children who help to prep and cook veg are more likely to eat it. If you feel your child is ready to help and could benefit from it, keep the stress and mess to a minimum by choosing one simple task for them to do as part of the prep, meaning they can be involved and feel like the recipe is in part ‘theirs’, but also not make the process too much longer or more complicated.
For a younger child, why not make squashed tomato pasta sauce? This is especially great to make in summer when tomatoes are ripe and cheaply available. Find a selection of the ripest tomatoes you can (doesn’t matter what size or type) and make sure to watch out for clothes and surfaces as it can get a little messy! Halve the tomatoes and pop them in a large bowl, then let the kids squash and squeeze until they have got a delicious mess of squashed tomatoes and juices. Add in a little oil, salt and garlic if you like, and toss through hot pasta with or without cheese and basil.
For an older child, it could be a great opportunity to learn the bridge grip for slicing tomatoes. Use a few dark red, ripe tomatoes both for better flavour and easier cutting, and see if they want to sprinkle over a little salt and drizzle some oil to make a tasty and very simple side salad for tea.
Use our Kitchen Ninja chart and videos to find simple ways for kids to help in the kitchen.
Your Food
Find your go-to meals in our family favourites section and see what veggies work best with them.
Find out how to add more veg to your suppers here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it!
The first thing to do is remove the pressure. If the veg doesn’t get eaten, it’s not the end of the world. There will be other days, other dinners, other chances. Fun is key here – try not to worry about mess, perfect table manners, or playing with food. Instead, focus on making the process of getting the food to the plates, readying the table, and the actual eating relaxed.
The best principles for success here are the Three Rs (role modelling, rewarding, re-offering) which you can read about here.
But there is one more way you can serve for success, and that is giving your child a role. You don’t have to do this every time, just encourage them in their strengths through it when you can.
Here are some of our favourite ideas:
Design a menu
Come up with a silly name or story for a dish
Help with making a meal plan and choosing veg for dinners or snacks
Help to serve up the meal on dishes, lay the table or create a centrepiece to be involved in the physical ‘serving up’ process
The Wonderful World of Veg
Check out our vegepedia. When to buy in-season. How to store them to keep for longer. How to engage children with each veg, and simple ideas of how to prepare and cook them for maximum taste and minimum waste. Select a veg…