Eat Your Greens!

I love my veg - every colour - but my Dad passed down to me his obsession with greens!

CABBAGE

'Eat your cabbage, it's good for you'
Said Dad
I pushed the dark green stuff round my plate
I ate a potato, mum's home grown.

'See those raggy bits round your nails?
Said Dad
'That's from not eating your greens.'
'Cabbage is full of vitamins.'

I ate the potatoes and the gravy
Mum smiled
I chewed and chewed on the meat
But I just couldn't swallow it.

'Look, the cauliflower is like tiny trees'
Said Mum.
'Sprouts are little baby cabbages, only sweeter'.
I ate the mash with butter.

'When I was in the war, we got scurvy'
Said Dad
'Because there were no greens or fruit.'
'You don't want to get scurvy...do you?'

Mum made bubble and squeak. 'Eat it up'.
Said Dad
Mum put a fried egg on top and with brown sauce
I ate the lot, legs swinging under the table.

He was a bit obsessed with cabbage
My Dad
The darker the greens, the better
The deprivation of those war years, I suppose.

Lizzie Birkett 29-9-20