Serving style preferences for various meal arrangements among children

Abstract

AbstractServing styles of meals are important for children's acceptance, but few studies have investigated how children prefer to have their meals served. The aim of this study was to investigate children's preferred serving styles of typical dinner meals in younger and older children. A total of 100 school children aged 7–8‐years and 12–14‐years old preference‐ranked six different dinner meals presented with the various food items arranged on the plate as either separated, in‐between (some mixing, some separation), or mixed serving style using pictorial stimuli. They also scored their liking of each meal on a 7‐point smiley scale. Younger girls significantly preferred a separated serving style (p ≤ .001), while no specific serving style was preferred among younger boys. Older children significantly preferred in‐between serving style (p ≤ .001) and mixed serving style (p ≤ .01) over separated serving style, but no gender differences were found between the older children.Practical applicationsAs specific serving style preferences are seen in some children this knowledge could be incorporated into the preparation of daily meals for families and institutions alike. Serving meals and foods in a separated serving style could be a way of allowing the child to control the degree of possible subsequent mixing of the food items on the plate according to their individual, personal preferences. In contrast, serving a child a meal constituted by mixed food items limit the possibility of separating the elements afterward. This knowledge may optimize areas of the food industry, for example, in the context of ready‐to‐eat lunches brought to the children at school. Using serving styles with division of the food either into more rooms or by simply separating the placement of food items on the plate may allow children to adopt the serving style in accordance with their personal preferences, which may increase acceptance of the meal.