Oh, I hate lima beans. And I think most kids do. That was actually the last thing that changed in that story. Originally, the cure was marshmallows, just because they’re yummy. She just ate something because it was yummy, and it cured her. Then my editor and I were discussing the ending, and we decided it would work better if we could come up with something that most people hated, but that she liked. That would be a more effective ending for the story.
So, I thought, you know, “Lima beans, of course.” For kids, that’s the international symbol of food hatred lima beans. So I called my editor and told her. She said, “Well, why lima beans?”
I said, “Because everybody hates them.”
And she said, “They do?”
It turned out that she’d always loved lima beans her whole life and had no idea that kids couldn’t stand them. She didn’t believe me. So she took a poll around the office, and called back and said, “Okay. You’re right. Everyone hates them.”
