Evidence of attitude change through taste experience in 10–19 year-olds

• Younger pupils show a significantly more positive attitude than older ones, as well as a greater preference for dinner foods.
• A significant positive attitude change was observed between pre-intervention and post-intervention attitudes.
• Boys have higher preferences for dinner foods than girls.

This study examines attitudes towards eating fish for dinner in 10–19 year-olds and how these attitudes are affected by a taste experience with different fish and seafood. The main objective is to better understand how taste experiences, good or bad, influence attitudes towards eating fish for dinner. 211 children and teenagers responded to items measuring attitudes on two occasions, before and after a taste experience (i.e. pre-intervention and post-intervention). Data analyses included Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests to assess the taste experience’s impact on attitudes and Kruskal–Wallis Tests to examine differences in attitudes between subgroups (e.g. gender, age groups). It was found that taste experience can contribute to a positive attitude change, and further that there was a significant difference in attitudes between age groups. Early exposures to fish and seafood are suggested to be a promising intervention strategy to increase consumption. Further research into this topic is needed.