Healthy? Tasty? Children's Evaluative Categorization of Novel Foods

Children’s eating behavior in the US is generally suboptimal, with concerns including childhood obesity, food neophobia (reluctance to eat novel foods), and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. One challenge to improving these eating behaviors is a lack of information about how children think about healthy foods. The present study examined how preschoolers think about novel foods in terms of health and taste. Thirty-nine children ages 4-6 (M = 4.67) and their parents were recruited from six preschools in northwest Ohio. Children participated in a 30-minute categorization task in which they saw a picture of a novel food paired with a quality statement (40 trials). Children then categorized foods by taste (yummy, yucky) and health (healthy, junky), and rated how much they would like to try the foods (on a scale from 1-5). Parents completed demographic questions and Pliner and Hobden’s Food Neophobia Scale. Results showed that children displayed a preference for packaged foods by indicating they were yummy and more willing to try them. Novel packaged food might be associated with food marketing, which is child-oriented and visually enticing, and prior experience with highly palatable packaged foods. Also, children readily categorized food as healthy when told it “makes you strong” but did not reliably categorize as yummy when told it “tastes delicious”, suggesting more wariness about adults’ information about taste. Furthermore, the results suggest that highly neophobic children may be more willing to try foods if an adult appeals to a health function rather than taste. This last finding is especially promising for interventions aiming to improve eating habits among picky eaters.