Sam continues to follow the man, asking him to eat the food in some locations (house, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, boat) and with some animals (mouse, fox, goat) for dining partners.

Finally, when the man agrees to try the dish Sam-I-am has offered, he realizes that he does like green eggs and ham.

[8] His wife Helen Palmer sometimes placed his discarded drafts back on his desk in the hope that he would approve of them after looking at them a second time, though he rarely did.

[10][11] The reading ended with applause, but Seuss remained self-critical and scrutinized pages that he felt did not get the reaction he had hoped.

[10] Phyllis Cerf had intended to announce Green Eggs and Ham with two other children's books, Are You My Mother?

[13] It is one of many Dr. Seuss books about a defiance of norms—in this case, the persistence of Sam-I-am after his offer of green eggs and ham is rejected.

[1] Consistent use of the name Sam-I-am instead of simply Sam allowed Seuss to maintain meter when rhyming it with the eponymous green eggs and ham.

[13] One academic, Tim Wolf, argued that Sam-I-am has no distinguishing gender or sex and could be read as male or female.

Allegedly, the breakfast was interpreted as a metaphor for Soviet socialism, with many initially rejecting it but eventually coming to enjoy it after "trying" it.

[18] Green Eggs and Ham was widely praised upon its release, and reviewers overwhelmingly celebrated that the book was written using only 50 distinct words.

[13][19] The Saturday Review of Literature praised the book's pacing, paying attention specifically to the opening pages in which Sam-I-am introduces himself with a placard.

[19] Professor of children's literature Philip Nel similarly lauded the introduction for introducing the conflict of the book visually through Sam-I-am's active movement and the unnamed man's avoidance.

[27] At Dr. Seuss's alma mater, Dartmouth College, it became an inside joke that the book's title was a reference to the breakfast food served in the on-campus cafeteria.

[12] When Dr. Seuss received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University in 1985, the graduating class rose and recited Green Eggs and Ham in its entirety for him.

[28][29] Dr. Seuss reportedly spent the rest of his life enduring gifts of green eggs and ham, which he described as "deplorable stuff".

[33] Many parodies of Green Eggs and Ham have been created, including a rap song by Moxy Früvous and a sketch on Saturday Night Live featuring the minister Jesse Jackson reading the book during a sermon.

It stars Adam DeVine as Sam-I-Am, a wildlife protector, and Michael Douglas as the unnamed man, a failed inventor who is given the name Guy-Am-I for the series.

[37] A graphic novel Green Eggs and Ham Take a Hike, released on January 7, 2025, is written and illustrated by James Kochalka.