Our family food choices can be influenced by cultural and environmental factors
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Why do children and young people prefer certain foods? There are four basic flavours: savoury, sweet, sour and bitter. We are born with a preference for sweet foods and reject sour and bitter tastes. The taste for savoury food is developed several months after birth; we learn to like it and then it becomes a habit. That is why it is important to create the habit of only consuming foods with a healthy amount of salt.
Similarly, children who experience food used as punishment will feel unable to consume certain foods as a result and thus develop unhealthy relationships with food later in life, such as overeating. Food as power and consolation Children may refuse to eat as a way of protesting against their parents. Likewise, teens also assert their ‘independence’ by rejecting certain foods. Food acts as a comfort factor for many people by stimulating good emotions and alleviating negative ones. Think of a food you like to eat and the chances are it was probably offered to comfort you in your childhood.
The colour, brightness (fruit), transparency (jelly), size, shape, and texture of food (vegetables and roasted food), are all important factors that make food attractive to children. After a period of illness, it is common for children to reject a particular taste or food item, but that does not mean that particular food should be avoided.
Culture, religion, and family People’s eating habits develop over time and are strongly influenced by culture, religion, and family. This includes learning what is acceptable to eat or not and the foods served on different occasions and to people according to their age, gender and social status. Rules on food preparation and consumption can also be determined culturally. Holding certain religious beliefs can lead to acceptance or rejection of certain foods. For example, some Hindus do not eat beef while Jews do not eat pork. Parents act as role models for specific eating behaviours. As children grow, they get exposed to food outside the family environment and develop more varied tastes. Peer pressure will also have strong influences on youngsters’ food choices, especially concerning fruits, vegetables, fizzy drinks, and sweets.
Taste: a learned sense From an early age, children should be exposed to and encouraged to try a wide variety of foods with different flavours. Sometimes a new food, when offered for the first time, is not accepted, but the more that food is offered, the more likely it is for the taste buds to learn to enjoy it. Sometimes repeating the offer a few times may result in acceptance. Children and adolescents feel hungry more often than adults because their bodies are growing and, obviously, need more nutrition. Being able to differentiate between being hungry or not will help them adopt healthy eating habits. Without the awareness of being hungry or full, they may end up eating more than is needed for a healthy lifestyle.
Meal Patterns and Habits Meal times in family are of the utmost importance. Children who routinely eat at the same time as the rest of the family are more likely to develop healthier eating habits. Snacking or having meals in front of the television may lead to a nutrient-poor diet and often to a higher body mass index (BMI).
Eating habits and psychological needs Some parents try to control what and how much their children eat and often insist that they ‘eat all the food on their plates’. This signals to children that the amount of food they are offered is more important than whether they are hungry or not. When food is used as punishment for bad behaviour it may encourage children to develop poor eating habits, such as eating when they are not hungry and developing a dislike for the foods they are being forced to eat.
Convenience Have you ever decided to order a take-away when too pressed for time to prepare a proper meal? How often have you eaten certain foods just because you did not have a better option available? The need to work longer hours and long commuting are reasons that directly impact family meals. This may lead parents to offer children a snack after school or the children having to prepare their meals by themselves without an adult around. Children coping with many extracurricular activities often have to ‘squeeze’ their meals between or on the way to these activities. This lifestyle greatly influences the development of lifelong poor eating habits.
Psychological needs related to the mind and emotions play a key role in eating habits that are learned from an early age and will inevitably impact lifelong eating choices. As a child, we experience food as a reward, punishment, emotional comfort, demonstration of affection, or pleasure. Feelings of pleasure may become associated with foods eaten as a reward or consumed on special occasions with loved ones. Negative feelings can develop when food is used as a punishment as well as foods eaten during difficult times. Parents’ eagerness to show love or mask the guilt they feel for not being able to spend ‘quality time’ with them can lead them to overfeed the children.
Media, advertising and marketing Have you ever found yourself craving certain foods immediately after watching an ad on television? Children and teenagers are highly susceptible to advertisements and regularly want what they see in ads. Often ads involve foods rich in fat and sugar while fruits and vegetables receive little or no attention. The good news is that families with good communication and eating habits can lessen the impact of media advertising on children’s
Food as reward or punishment When food is used as reward for good behaviour, as when parents say: ‘Clean your toys and you can have a chocolate’, children will probably also seek to be rewarded when adults. 53
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