Broccoli, carrots and above all sprouts are likely to provoke just one word from nine-year-old Nicola Brown - "Yuck!"

But a team of chefs are hoping to succeed where Nicola's mother has failed, by converting her from a "veggie refusenik" to an enthusiastic vegetarian.

The chefs will put their culinary skills to the test by cooking a five-course meal for Nicola without a trace of meat in sight.

Nicola, of Havelock Close, Felpham, near Bognor, has been chosen to represent the southern region after a nationwide Veggie Refusenik search was launched.

She will join nine other youngsters on Sunday when chefs from a famous cookery school in London will try to tickle their tastebuds at a special lunch.

The event is part of a joint project by the British Tomato Growers' Association and the Cancer Research Campaign to try to persuade children to eat more healthy fruit and vegetables.

Nicola, a pupil at Downview School, Felpham, was picked after filling out a form saying how she disliked all vegetables, but hated sprouts most of all.

Her mum, Laura, said: "She is a nightmare when it comes to fruit and vegetables.

"She just fiddles around with them on the plate and makes out she can't swallow them.

"I would like her to have a healthier diet, but I am not too worried because her three brothers were like that at her age and now they eat everything.

"I can't even throw lack of exercise at her as a reason for eating veg because she is very fit and plays football for Felpham Colts."

Mrs Brown, who works in a newsagents, says Nicola takes after her postman dad, Malcolm, who prefers sausage and chips to vegetables.

She said: "I still do a Sunday roast and me and the boys love it, but Nicola just has a piece of meat, a Yorkshire pudding and perhaps one potato."

Sunday's fruit-and-veg-only lunch will take place at the famous Butlers' Wharf cookery school, near Tower Bridge, and the organisers say tomatoes will be a major ingredient because the event is being sponsored by the growers' trade organisation.

School director Michael Kitts says he is sure his team of trainee chefs will rise to the challenge of getting ten fussy eaters to enjoy a veggie meal.

He said: "We don't anticipate having to resort to threats and bribery because the dishes will simply be impossible to refuse."

The campaign is being backed by Dr Gillian Harris, a clinical specialist in children's eating problems, who says parents with children like Nicola should persevere.

She said: "Quite often if a young child is presented with a small portion of the disliked fruit or vegetables on a regular basis with a mild suggestion that they might just try it, the child may then decide they like the taste after all.

"Research has shown that it can take at least 14 attempts for a child to accept a different or strange food, although, not surprisingly, most parents have given up by then.

Nicola's big day out in London with the other finalists will not only include a slap-up veggie meal, but also a bird's eye view of the capital from the London Eye, which towers over the capital like a giant ferris wheel.

Nicola, like many children of her age, says vegetables are "disgusting". She said: "My favourite meal is cheeseburger and chips."

She says she is looking forward to her day out in London and will give all the food put in front of her a fair try. But, ominously for the chefs, she said: "I am really looking forward to going on the London Eye best of all."