At a wild guess, what's not to like *might* be that all the food is together. At least younger kids tend to be pretty conservative, in my experience, about wanting the different elements of food kept distinct from each other. I remember vehemently lobbying to have, for instance, my rice kept separate from the sauce-laden dish that was meant to be served over it. I ate both, but I didn't want them touching each other. And I think I might have felt the same about something like shepherd's pie, though I don't really know.

Which isn't, by the way, Peg, a criticism of the dish or your serving of it. At all. It's only that I like to poke at possible reasons, even for EXTREMELY ANNOYING BEHAVIOR. Ahem. Now that I'm cooking more often, myself, I can start to imagine cooking for a family on a regular basis, and I don't think I'd be pleased at *all* to have efforts rejected, no matter how well I could speculate about the underlying causes.