Future for food education of children

Food plays an important role in the daily life and wellbeing of children. Childhood food experiences are important guides to eating behaviour in adults. Food is full of properties that we perceive with our senses of smell, touch, hearing, sight and taste. We live in individual sensory worlds, and our food perception processes are also individual. Children actively investigate food during eating and cooking. By encouraging their excursion into the world of food culture and food activities, we support them in expanding their food preferences. This paper is based on the “Future for food education” workshop in the Future for Food Conference and focuses on the knowledge applied to the sensory-based food education for children. Examples of food education practices from Finland and Denmark are presented. The learning café method was used for the workshop attendees to outline the food education possibilities. The key issues were discussed in groups and included such topics as: “Who should perform the food education activities?” and “Who will benefit in the future from food education?” The workshop presentations and discussions indicate that there is a need for the advancement and research of food education for children.