“Geef”

“Geef”

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.”

William Shakespeare

When our twin girls were little, in the four-to-seven age range, we had many strategies, and even a few tricks, to get them to eat the food that was presented to them.

My wife Liz was and still is very intent on healthy eating in our family, and this admirable desire and daily goal made feeding them even more challenging.

It was difficult work, convincing them to eat, or at least to not reject the food outright; since there were two of them, if one said yuck, the other would likely not even try it.

We could have just thrown them a box of Calvin’s favorite cereal, “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs,” and said the hell with it.

And plenty of times, we felt like doing just that. The animated children’s show VeggieTales was of some help, as at least fruits and vegetables were portrayed in a funny, friendly way. We began calling asparagus “VeggieTales,” as our kids seemed to like asparagus … sometimes.

They nearly always asked, “What’s this?” before they would try anything new, and often the name itself would be enough to turn up two noses.

So, when we thought it was time to broaden the menu a bit to include lamb, I had the inspiration to change its name. I didn’t want to hear the startled question, “You want us to eat lamb?”

I did what any of you would do and called it “geef.” They loved geef and often requested it for dinner.

Years later, Annie told us the story of a babysitter who asked them what they would like for dinner, to which they both gleefully replied, “Geef!”

The babysitter said, “You mean beef.”

“No, we want geef!” they chimed.

“What’s geef!?” cried the sitter.

They didn’t know, and neither did she, so I’m pretty sure they agreed, for that night, to settle for “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.”

-Hank