Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis Have a Surprisingly Simple Trick for Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables

Celebrity parents have access to private chefs, nutritionists and just about every resource money can buy. None of that changes the fact that plenty of kids still refuse to touch a vegetable.

One well known Hollywood couple stumbled onto a surprisingly low tech fix almost by accident. Keep reading to see what worked in their house and why it holds up outside of it too.

It Started With An Accidental Backyard Project

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis ended up growing far more food than they expected after deciding to plant corn in an empty patch of dirt at their home. What started as a small backyard project turned into hundreds of ears of corn.

Neither of them planned for it to become a lesson about food, it started simply because they had the time and the space. It just so happened that their kids were right there for the entire process, from planting to harvest.

The Kids Ended Up Eating What They Grew

With that much corn on hand, it ended up on the table constantly, and the kids ate it without much resistance. Kunis has said her kids practically lived on the vegetable during that stretch of time.

There was no negotiating or hiding it in another dish, the corn they grew themselves was simply what was for dinner. Watching something grow from a seed seemed to remove whatever resistance usually shows up at the table.

Research Backs Up Why This Actually Works

This is not just a fluke tied to one family’s backyard. A 2007 study found that preschoolers who ate homegrown produce were more than twice as likely to get a full five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

More recent research out of schools found similar results, with kids who took part in gardening and cooking classes eating noticeably more vegetables than those who did not. Growing food seems to build a kind of ownership that a plate full of unfamiliar vegetables never quite manages on its own.

It Does Not Have To Be A Full Garden

Nobody needs a massive backyard or hundreds of ears of corn to see the same effect at home. Even a single pot of herbs or one tomato plant on a balcony can give a kid enough ownership over a vegetable to actually want to eat it.

The size of the garden matters far less than letting a child be part of the process. Something as small as watering a plant every day can be enough to change how a kid feels about what ends up on their plate.

So if a kid refuses to touch a vegetable at dinner, it might be worth handing them a seed packet instead of a fork first. Sometimes the fastest way to a picky eater’s plate really does start in the dirt.