A Sorting Task with Emojis to Understand Children's Recipe Acceptance.

Area of Science:

• Food science and nutrition
• Child psychology
• Cross-cultural studies

Background:

• Food acceptability in children is influenced by sensory, psychological, and contextual factors.
• Understanding children's food preferences is crucial for promoting healthy eating habits.
• Mediterranean cuisine offers diverse culinary traditions for exploring food acceptance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate children's perception and acceptance of Mediterranean recipes from various cultures.
• To identify factors influencing children's food choices, including main ingredients and origin.
• To explore children's associations with food descriptors like 'healthy' and 'tasty'.

Main Methods:

• 184 children (10-13 years) from Italy, Lebanon, and Spain participated.
• Photographs of 20 Mediterranean recipes were used as stimuli.
• Children performed a sorting task with emojis for liking and a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) activity.

Main Results:

• Recipes with meat/poultry and cereals were most preferred; legume and vegetable dishes had lower acceptance.
• Children grouped recipes by main ingredient, not by gastronomic origin.
• Spanish children showed higher acceptance of foreign recipes than Lebanese and Italian children.

Conclusions:

• Children's food preferences are influenced by main ingredients, with a bias against vegetables and legumes.
• Cultural background plays a role in food acceptance, particularly for foreign recipes.
• While children associate 'healthy' with positive terms, they often reject vegetable- and legume-based dishes.