Superveg
Inspired by the salad that James didn’t want with his sandwich at a café.
Once upon a time, there was a café that served a little salad with all its meals and sandwiches. This was no good for the children who went there because they all hated salad.
Every morning, the farmer who lived down the road would go into his field and round up the vegetables to send over to the café for the salads. First he would go to the tomato plant, where the tomatoes were usually fast a sleep, and give it a shake.
“Wake up! Wake up! You lazy tomatoes!” he would shout, until enough tomatoes had jumped down to the floor.
Then he would go to the lettuces, all snuggled up in their bed of soil, and tickle them until they jumped up out of the ground and went over to wait with the tomatoes.
Then he would go over to the red onions. They were very shy and usually lay hidden in the ground, but they were easy to spot because their leaves stuck up into the air. So the farmer would pull them out carefully.
Finally, he would go to the cucumbers. They were all very excited, jumping up and down like little dogs. The farmer would count out the number that the café would need, and choose one to be the leader of the group and lead them all safely to the café.
One morning, just as the vegetables were about to set off for the café, a little voice spoke up.
“What about me?”
The farmer looked down and saw a strange new vegetable he had never seen before. It was purple with leaves coming out of the top like tentacles.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Aren’t you going to send me to the café too?” asked the new vegetable.
“I can’t do that, they only want lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and red onions. I don’t even know what you are!”
“Please let me go! Please, please, please!”
So the farmer let it go.
When the vegetables reached the café, the chef opened the door and let in the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions. As the last one went in, he started to close the door.
Then he heard a little voice call up, “What about me?”
“What about you?” asked the chef, looking down at the strange purple thing.
“Aren’t you going to put me into the salads?”
“I can’t do that,” answered the chef, “my customers only want lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and red onions. I don’t even know what you are!”
“Please put me in with the salad! Please, please, please!”
So the chef decided to give the new vegetable a try.
Not long after, the first customers in the café were waiting for their food. They were a mum, a dad and their son, who had been to the café before and was not looking forward to his salad. The food arrived, but the family were very puzzled by the strange purple vegetable.
“What’s this purple thing?” they asked.
“I’ve no idea,” said the waitress, “normally we only serve lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and red onions.”
“Well, we can’t eat it, we don’t even know what it is!” said the dad.
All this time, the boy had been looking closely at the new vegetable. It looked cool.
“Don’t send it back!” he said, “I’ll eat it.”
He tried it and thought it was delicious. His parents were amazed and asked the waitress to thank the chef for finally finding a vegetable their son would eat. The waitress did so. The next time the chef saw the farmer, he also passed on the news that children seemed to like the new vegetable, and please could he send some more.
So the farmer went into his field to find some more of the strange new vegetable. There were lots.
“I’m going to have to think of a name for it. How about Superveg?”
All the little purple things jumped up and down with delight, shouting “We’re superveg! We’re superveg!”
Before long, the word spread and soon children all over the country were enjoying superveg with their salads. Next time you go to a café, see if you can find some in your salad.