It may sound very strange that anyone should need tips on how to eat vegetables. Current medical wisdom says we should aim to eat five portions of fruit or vegetables each day to keep healthy and the amount and variety of fruit and vegetables available to most of us is such that this presents no problem.

But then there are issues of taste and what I would call "conditioning". Not everybody likes the taste of every vegetable. President George Bush senior, for example famously told the world he had never liked broccoli since he was made to eat it as a child. Another issue for some is the texture of various vegetables; an aversion, perhaps, to textures which are too fibrous, such as certain beans and celery for example.

There are ways and means of blending and cooking vegetables to change their texture and augment or even disguise their flavour to add a new dimension to mealtimes. A crunchy, raw red or green pepper may be heaven to one person's palate and hell to another's. Take that same pepper and roast it in the oven and you will find both its texture and its flavour transformed. Roast the pepper along with a courgette and some garlic cloves and blend the roasted vegetables together with a food mixer, adding a little crme fraiche and you will produce a wonderful sauce for pasta!

Potatoes make a fine mash, as everyone knows. Next time you boil potatoes to make a mash, try boiling some celeriac along with them. Mash them up together and add milk or butter as you normally would. You'll find a tasty and nutritious alternative to everyday mashed potatoes.

Getting back to George's broccoli - some people like broccoli to remain firm, others prefer it soft. A favourite recipe of mine from Britain is to make it into a soup with stilton cheese. This strong-tasting blue cheese complements the broccoli flavour in such a way that it is quite transformed. If you cannot obtain Stilton cheese, try another blue cheese that is available to you.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different vegetables. Remember, too, that although fresh vegetables are best, canned vegetables also contain essential vitamins and nutrients. Take a look at some of the vegetable choices in Asian and Oriental food stores. Some of them you will never have heard of - but give them a try! And if you've never tried humble Spinach in the Indian dish "Sag Aloo", you really haven't lived. It's available both canned and frozen if you shop around.

Give your taste buds a treat and enjoy your five a day.

Learn more about this author, Colin Morley.
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