Green Eggs and Ham Recipe: A Delicious Dish to Eat in Your House, with a Mouse!

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Now that you’ve got your tots in the oven, here’s the typical food blogger backstory that you can read while you wait for the timer to ding!

Green Eggs and Ham Recipe (The Original)

The original Green Eggs and Ham recipe included a pinch of imagination, a heaping spoonful of determination, and a cheeky bet for fifty dollars.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as “Dr. Seuss,” published over 60 books during his career as a writer and illustrator of children’s stories. However, it wasn’t always fame and glory and cats in hats.

Seuss’s first story, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, was rejected by twenty-seven different publishers! Thankfully, in an act of serendipity, he bumped into an old classmate who was working for Vanguard Press, and Seuss became an officially published author in 1937.¹ Had Seuss’s determination wavered after the first or second, or twenty-seventh rejection, we may live in a world without wockets in pockets and foxes in boxes. (And what a sad world that would be!)

Nevertheless, determination was not the only ingredient whisked into the original Green Eggs and Ham. Even though Seuss’s publishing career had taken off, it took a fifty-dollar bet to get this strangely-colored dish really cooking.

Seuss published The Cat in the Hat to great aplomb, having crafted the classic within the confines of a 225 word vocabulary, a guideline set by the publishing company.² (Seuss technically went over and used 236, but we’ll let it slide.³) Limiting the variety of words that can be used in storytelling creates a unique challenge, but it was about to border on the impossible.

Fifty-Fifty

With the success of The Cat in the Hat, a book designed to enrapture first graders, came a new division of the Random House publishing company: the Beginner Books division. There was also a new mission. Random House co-founder Bennett Cerf bet Seuss he couldn’t write a children’s book with only a 50-word vocabulary. Legend has it that along with 50 words, fifty dollars were also on the line.

It was at this point that the imagination of Dr. Seuss reached its peak. When pushed to the limit, Seuss proved to be one of the most creative souls on the planet. It took a year, but squirreled away in his studio, Seuss labored tirelessly, tweaking his list of useable words like an algebraic equation.

Finally, against all odds, Seuss made a story with a comprehensible plot. Not only was it comprehensible, but some would say it was also philosophical, raising questions of whether experience or reason provides us with the best information.⁴ Deep thinking aside, Green Eggs and Ham is just a darn good book!

Sam-I-Am constantly pesters the unnamed narrator to try something new, finally convincing him to take the tiniest bite of green eggs and ham. To the narrator’s surprise (and perhaps even the reader’s), he loves it! Even his annoyance with Sam-I-Am disappears. It’s a great reminder for children and grown-ups alike that new experiences, while scary, may also transform our lives in wonderful ways. Sometimes we just have to step out on faith.

With bright and engaging illustrations, relatable characters, and Seuss’s trademark humor, it’s no wonder the School Library Journal declared: “Limited vocabulary but unlimited exuberance of illustration.”⁵

Seuss had proven himself an absolute master of his craft, defeating the 50-word challenge with flying colors. (Especially green.) Oh, but what about the fifty dollars? Bennet Cerf apparently never paid up, but as Green Eggs and Ham went on to be a best-seller, Seuss probably made that fifty dollars himself – and then some!⁶

Green Eggs and Ham at Universal Studios

The iconic Green Eggs and Ham recipe finally came to life at Universal Studios with the construction of Seuss Landing and its whimsically themed quick-service dining, Green Eggs and Ham Cafe. (In addition to the titular dish, they also serve hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and Who Hash.)

Unlike the book illustrations, which depict a slab of ham and two eggs cooked sunny-side up (with bright green yolks), the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe serves up something more akin to a tater tot casserole.

Each dish comes with a pile of tots tossed with green scrambled eggs, all slathered in savory white cheese sauce. How did Universal Orlando procure green eggs? They weren’t collected from the nest of a green chicken or even dyed with green food coloring – it’s a mouthwatering spinach pesto that adds both color and a delightful layer of flavor to the entire dish!

Green Eggs and Ham at Home

Ideal for lunch, dinner, or a snack, we’re so happy this dish from Universal Orlando is something we can make at home! That also means you can doctor it up however you like! Want more pesto pep? Craving something extra cheesy? Just like Sam-I-Am helped the narrator learn that experimenting with new things can be fun, you can tinker with this recipe, too, and create something that’s perfect for your palate! (We’re fond of using extra cheese ourselves.)

We also love that this can be turned into a family activity. Gather the kiddos around for an afternoon reading of Green Eggs and Ham before crafting the recipe together! It’ll make the reading experience that much more fun and memorable while also putting into practice that valuable lesson about trying new things. The best memories of home often include books and adventures in the kitchen.

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Have you tried Green Eggs and Ham at the park or in your house? On a boat or with a mouse? What did you think?? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!

I do so like green eggs and ham!
Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-Am.

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

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