The Vegetable Okra

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I believe the OP may have felt tricked into eating yucky, yet healthful, food by their parents.

Okra is awesome man! I've never found to be bland. It's got to be cooked right though. A lot of folks ruin it by cooking it wrong. It's not an easy food to get right depending on what you're doing with it.

I believe we are talking about our parents forcing us to eat certain diets at the suggestion of well-meaning, but ignorant people who thought it would "help" with our autism/aspergers.

Since I was born in 1973, they weren't really even diagnosing Aspergers when I was little, let alone inventing wacko cures for it. Instead, the school treated it a a discipline problem. I even got bad grades in something they called, "Work and Play Relationships with Others."

My parents, though? Nah, they were cool. Pretty accepting and mellow. They're attitude was pretty much, "Huh. How about that. This one's kinda weird. Oh well, what's for dinner?"

f**k me

Feeding your kids healthy vegetables is good thing. I only discovered okra in my 20s, I love it! I love all green veg, except beans!

There have been studies that show feeding people healthy veg rather than junk food improves behaviour. I think this was done in a young offenders institution. I wish I could remember where I read that.

Of course, food of any type can't cure autism, but it is not bad to feed your kids healthy food, it is responsible parenting.

No, but I do like fried okra and I'm the one who usually insists on getting it.

Yum! I like okra. Also lima beans, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and most of the other veggies that people usually "hate."

My parents were awesome growing up, we had a veggie garden and they always encouraged us to eat healthy, but at the same time, they were more or less supportive if I went through a food "fad" (for example when I was 3, I only ate yogurt, turkey white meat, and pb&j sandwiches cut into three triangles).

Huh, I geggled okra just now, and it really doesn't look how I expected it to look. I was thinking more round, like artichoke. I was never force-fed okra by anyone.

We ate a lot of vegetables when I was growing up. Okra was one of them. I love it! I'll eat it fried or boiled. Only my oldest daughter will it it with me now. Nobody else likes it, but hey, more for us. She only eats it fried.

I had a lot of food allergies for a long time, so my diet was very limited. The only rule was that I had to try at least a bite of something before I said I wouldn't eat it. There were very few things I wouldn't try. I would not try pork brains (yes, brains. It's a common food sold down here in cans in the grocery store and a lot of country people eat it), raw oysters, sardines (although I will eat anchovies) or any organ meats. Otherwise, I'll try just about any food.

Frances

I tried cooking okra twice, both times it was pretty bad..

Clearly didn't do it the right way, it went a bit slimy and the texture was not good.

The only veg I can remember causing a stand off between my mother and me was salsify. I wasn't allowed to get up until I'd eaten it. I eventually did eat them, holding my nose throughout. That way I blocked out all of the taste. The texture wasn't too great either ( a bit like asparagus but softer) but wasn't too bad.

A somewhat hollow victory for my mother. I was never made to eat it again.

I never ate okra as a child. Except maybe little tiny bits once in awhile in one type of Cambell's soup. But I'm kind of old compared to a lot of you, and grew up long before any okra-force- feeding-to-cure-autism fads came along. My mom is also autistic, although neither of us knew, so she didn't really notice there was anything to try and cure in me any way.

Now I love okra, but like people say, it has to be cooked right. Tip: do not cut the okra pods before cooking -except to trim the stem end slightly- or the okra will get slimy.

Okra facts: Okra is about the only plant in the malva family (hollyhock) that is eaten. It has a very pretty flower, similar to a hollyhock. It is very high in protein and originated in Africa and was likely brought to America by slaves.