Your parents probably roasted vegetables (which is delicious) rather than steaming everything (which is pretty gross). If you had baby boomer parents then everything was steamed, and no salt, pepper, or other flavorings were ever used. There’s also a pretty good chance that it came out of a frozen bag, or a can. It’s amazing that an entire generation of parents didn’t know anything about cooking flavorful food. I mean, I’m sure some of them knew how, but not a single one that I knew.