I’ve mentioned before that one of my goals for this year is to learn to like new food. It sounds like it flies in the face of the whole “lose weight” thing, but it’s a decent enough goal for a picky eater, since being more diverse and eating all the colors of the rainbow would be a good thing.

On Monday night, we cooked edamame to go with our super fancy dinner of chicken nuggets (at least they were the expensive all natural ones, which means less guilt), cucumbers, potatoes, and fruit. Little Man had allegedly tried it at a relative’s house a couple years ago (she said he ate it, he said he didn’t, classic edamame he-said-she-said), but none of the rest of us had. Sam was the first to try it.

“They’re good. Reminds me of lima beans.”

Next was Little Man, who loves lima beans.

“Yuck. God that’s awful!” He asked to opt out of the rest.

Next was me. Let me tell you — there is serious drama when I try new food or try to reintroduce my taste buds to food that I previously declared to be enemies of the state. I stare down the food. I will myself to pick it up. I panic and back out, declaring that I just can’t do it. After much coaxing from whoever happens to be around (and sometimes, if my dad is there, offers of monetary rewards), I’ll pick it up again and try to make myself do it. Often I fail.

The drama with the edamame was no different from the drama with the squash or the okra or the beautiful steak sub with the peppers, tomatoes, and onions. After chants of “Eat it, eat it!” from Sam and Little Man (before you judge the food example I’m setting for my kids, at least they weren’t chanting “Chug, chug!”), I picked up a single edamame bean and put it in my mouth and bit down. It was kinda hard — not what I was expected — so I retched and spit it out and acted like I had just put poison in my mouth, much to the amusement of Sam and LM.

And then it was Baby Girl’s turn. Baby Girl is far pickier than I am. She’s a toddler, but still. There’s not usually any negotiating with Baby Girl. No “I’ll give you five bucks to take one bite of okra” or “You’ll get a bite of cookie if you take a bite of carrot.” She’ll demand the reward and go her merry way, but rarely will she actually taste anything. The edamame was no exception.

“Mommy, I not like that!” she said when I asked her to eat one of the pretty green beans. She then picked one up and slammed it down and copied my retching before cackling, which sent Sam and Little Man into another fit of giggles.

“Come on Baby Girl…just lick one. It’s so good!”

She picked one up and pretended to lick it in a very exaggerated way. “Mmm MMM that good!” she said and started laughing again, clearly catering to her audience.

“Mom, you practically threw up the edamame, she’s not gonna eat that!” Little Man informed me. He was right, of course. After a bit more prodding, BG refused to taste it, although she did pretend to lick one a few more times. After the kids finished up, BG grabbed a few beans and took them over to our dog — he loved them.

On the upside, Baby Girl did eat some of the cucumbers. They were peeled and she thought they were lemons and wanted one and then wanted more (yay!). I wasn’t aware that she liked lemons, I’ll take it.