A little reason to celebrate
National Eat Your Vegetables Day
Food ยท June 17
A food day about vegetables: the leafy, crunchy, roasted and raw parts of the plate, and easy ways to put more of them on it.
National Eat Your Vegetables Day falls on Thursday, June 17, 2027. That is 233 days away.
Vegetables are the edible parts of plants we usually cook or eat savory. That covers a lot of ground. Leaves like spinach and lettuce, roots like carrots and beets, stems like celery, flower buds like broccoli, and seeds like peas all count.
The range is what makes them interesting. A raw carrot snaps, a roasted one turns soft and sweet at the edges. Cabbage can be crisp in a slaw or mellow in a soup. Some vegetables taste completely different depending on heat, salt and time in the pan, which is why someone who swore off Brussels sprouts as a kid sometimes changes their mind after trying them roasted.
Marking the day usually means eating a few more of them, and preferably ones you actually like. Farmers markets and grocery produce aisles change through the year, so the best pick is often whatever is in season and piled high. Home cooks lean on simple methods: a sheet pan in a hot oven, a quick stir fry, a pot of soup that takes whatever is left in the crisper drawer.
It also helps to remember that not everything in the vegetable aisle is botanically a vegetable. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are fruits in the plant sense, since they hold seeds, but kitchens treat them as vegetables and nobody puts cucumber in a fruit salad.
A bowl of peas, shelled by hand at the kitchen table, still counts as dinner prep and quiet time at once.
Ways to celebrate
- Try roasting a vegetable you usually boil or steam.
- Look for an unfamiliar vegetable at a market or grocery store.
- Make a soup from whatever vegetables are left in the fridge.
- Share a favorite simple vegetable recipe with a friend.
- Cut up raw vegetables for a snack plate.
Dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Wednesday, June 17 |
| 2027 | Thursday, June 17 |
| 2028 | Saturday, June 17 |
| 2029 | Sunday, June 17 |
| 2030 | Monday, June 17 |
Also on June 17
Categories: Food days