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If you know literature, you know those are the first words of the title of the Marcel Proust masterpiece, “Remembrance of Times Past.” In it, Proust constructs the longest sentences known to mankind, but lets us in on youthful memories of the baked treat, madeleines.

Proust wrote: “I raised to my lips a spoonful of cake (and) a shudder ran through my whole body and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place.”

That’s quite something to write about a little sponge cake that’s eaten like a cookie, dipped in coffee or tea.

I have no such childhood memories of food that are so pleasant. What I do remember is the incident that forever marked me and my relationship to green beans, including the elegant haricot vert.

When I was growing up, green beans and most other vegetables served at dinner time came from cans, dumped into a saucepot and warmed on the stove, sometimes until they turned gray.

Pediatricians in the 1950’s were demigods, as Dr. Benjamin Spock’s tome on raising children was selling tens of thousands of copies. My mother was no different than any other of her contemporaries. She thought that the words of our pediatrician were the equivalent of the engraved stone tablets of Sinai.

Frustrated that I wouldn’t eat my green beans she turned to “Dr. Joe” who gave her this sage advice: “If he doesn’t eat them at dinner, serve them to him cold for breakfast.” And so from that point on I was forever marked.

I promise you, I’ve tried them all sorts of ways – steamed, broiled, roasted, tempura-battered. Green beans and I just don’t get along and I’m afraid we never will.

Funny thing is that like most other kids, I didn’t care much for most green vegetables, yet today I am a huge fan of greenies like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, spinach and the like.

Now my mother will read this piece and ask my why I’m picking on her (again). Nothing will ever stand in her way of inducing guilt, even when I tell her that I understand that no one gave her a handbook on raising kids.

So let us think about the eating habits and food preferences we are instilling in our kids. I promise this is not a lecture about obesity or diabetes, though I share the concern of the medical and nutritionist communities about the health of America’s children. The British populist chef, Jamie Oliver, undertook a project in England’s schools to change children’s eating habits and now he’s bringing it to America. I hope he succeeds.

More vegetables, fewer fried foods, lower amounts of carbohydrate-laden foods, moderated fast food, and so on.

In the meantime, let me share with you a recipe for tempura-style green beans that I adapted from the Red Cat, a popular eatery in New York:

Make the dipping sauce first by combing 1-1/4 cups of Dijon mustard with healthy pinch of dry mustard, a tablespoon of Tabasco, a quarter cup of soy sauce and three-quarters of a cup of honey. Put all ingredients in a saucepan and whisk over low heat. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

Make the tempura batter by whisking four egg whites to soft peaks. Then whisk in, gradually, three cups of flour and two and three-quarter cups of club soda.

Heat some canola oil (deep enough for frying) to 350. Dip fresh green beans that you’ve trimmed into the batter and carefully lower them into the hot oil in small batches. Fry until golden, about three minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain and salt immediately.

Serve with the dipping sauce.

Everybody I’ve made this for tells me it’s delicious. But I’m sorry, I just can’t.