Why I Hate Spinach

People who know me are now saying “Huh what? I thought you loved spinach.”

Yes, I love to eat spinach.  It is one of my favourite vegetables – possibly my most desired vegetable.  I love it raw or cooked, in a salad, casserole or sauce.  Since the first time I had spinach (and bacon) on pizza there was no going back to any other pizza toppings.

For our daycare menu it is just used in salads and there is only one child who will not eat spinach salad.  The reason the children refuse to eat it in other meals is mostly due to the ‘cooked’ aspect – they refuse most vegetables that have been cooked.

So now, because there really is one serious reason to despise the stuff, let me get back to the topic of ‘Why I Hate Spinach’.

Spinach is nearly impossible to clean off of plates, bowls, the table, the floor, or anything else.  Try wiping it off while it is still fresh and it simply rolls along the surface to another location and stays there.  I used to think that rice was hard to clean up but I discovered that when rice dries up it can easily be flaked or swept off surfaces.  This is not possible with spinach.

As spinach dries it forms a bond with the surface it is on.  Spinach would make fantastic glue if it wasn’t dark green. Dried on Spinach can be soaked until it becomes wet spinach but then it goes back to rolling across the surface again.

You can’t rinse spinach off a plate.  As cheese, egg or other foods get dissolved by running water spinach leaves just flatten out on the surface increasing their grasp.  They stay there taunting you until you increase the volume of water hoping the extra pressure will work.  Combined with a slight twist of the wrist and this extra water pressure rebounding off the plate can be used to wash your walls/ceiling/face/hair but the spinach will remain.

Giving up on rinsing and putting the dishes in the dishwasher will not help.  Dishwashers only ensure that spinach leaves become permanent features on glassware.  This is why all my dishes have pictures and green ‘patterns’.  Think the plate I served your food on is dirty?  Go ahead and try to clean it – I dare you!

We had spinach salad with our sandwiches yesterday and I am afraid to empty the dishwasher because I hate spinach.