WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama zinged her mother, Marian Robinson, for the way she cooked broccoli when Mrs. Obama was a kid growing up on the South Side of Chicago. Mrs. Obama made her comment on Friday, at a White House event on the South Lawn intended to encourage chefs to volunteer in local schools to help improve the quality of school meals; my report on the initiative is here.
"Let me tell you something. My mother didn't know how to cook broccoli," Mrs. Obama said. "It was watery and mushy, and that's what we thought broccoli was. We thought you could eat it with a spoon and cut it with a knife. And I know a lot of parents out there cooking broccoli like that. It makes it hard to like broccoli if that's how you're cooking it."
Lynn Sweet is a columnist and the Washington Bureau Chief for the 
RSS feeds 
Email Lynn
Twitter
Facebook
Get Email Alerts:
C'mon-Now-Being-a-Chicagoan-Since-Birth-(Some-56-Years-Ago)-I-KNOW-that-You-NEVER-Talk-About-Your-Family-(Especially-Your-Mom-or-Dad)-Or-Their-Habits-Or-Tendencies-OUTSIDE-of-the-Sanctity-of-Your-Own-Home-PERIOD. I'm-Sure-that-her-Mom-did-the-Very-BEST-She-Could-To Take-Care-Of-and-Feed-her-and-her-Siblings-OUT-OF-LOVE . . .
I recall a certain president, Bush I, who gave a very public rant about his mother forcing him to eat broccoli and how, now that he3 was president, he will never eat it again.