“Pass the ketchup, please”: familiar flavors increase children's willingness to taste novel foods

Abstract

Rozin & Rozin (1981) have suggested that the addition of flavour principles (the distinctive combinations of seasonings which characterize many cuisines) may facilitate the introduction of a new staple food into a culture. That is, the reluctance of omnivores to approach novel foods can be reduced by adding the familiar flavor principle to the unfamiliar food. To test this hypothesis, we “created” flavor principles in the laboratory by exposing children repeatedly to one of two initially novel chip dips. After the exposure phase, they were offered familiar and unfamiliar chips and asked about their willingness to taste each, alone, with the exposed dip, the unexposed dip, and several other dips. The main prediction was that addition of the exposed dip to the unfamiliar chip would increase children's willingness to taste it. Since individuals are not reluctant to taste familiar foods, addition of the exposed dip to the familiar chip was not expected to increase willingness to taste it. The results confirmed this prediction. Practical and theoretical implications of this finding were discussed.