What parents prefer and children like – Investigating choice of vegetable-based food for children

The inherent challenge of investigating food choice of new products for children is that more than one person is involved in the long-term decision-making. Parents decide in the purchase situation while children pass their verdict when they consume the meal. In this paper we suggest linking family decision-making and food choice, and reveal results from two empirical studies of vegetable-based food for children. One study discloses parents’ preferences regarding different food concepts while the other looks into children’s liking before and after tasting the products. Results show that parents know fairly well what children like. Sharing the meal experience with their children and having meal variation options are important benefits for parents. Parents are more concerned about health while children prefer products that look familiar. However, after tasting an unfamiliar product children are less reserved.