Indeed, that and school meal culture. I must say that I’m still shocked that in the uk, many schools will be self service with kids choosing their own meal and this having jacket potatoes or chips much of the week. In the US, many kids still being a sandwich lunch from home. In both cases, parents can of course compensate by introducing kids to culinary diversity but the school’s contribution on those grounds is between zero and negative!

By contrast, I grew up in a place where most kids ate at the canteen, served a single meal with no choice at communal tables and that was it. I’ve been at some ghastly ones and some brilliant ones but either way the principle was the same. Chips came about once a month and felt like a huge celebration. I ended up tasting almost every possible ingredients bar expensive ones in those canteens - from salsifis to tripes, and from Guinea fowl to Swiss chard. All of it was made from fresh and from scratch on site and I’m not even that old.

I suspect that you. 13901 or cws had similar experiences at least some of the time where you grew up. No kid likes not having choice but my sense is that not giving it is a major blessing and creates kids and adults who are not afraid of exploring unfamiliar things food wise and be surprised by the result (who would have believed that in primary school one o f my favourite dishes ended up being that gratinated salsifis, something I wouldn’t have chosen in a million years had I been given the choice!)