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Serving 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 applications As 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.

The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a specially developed serious game to improve food behavior in families with children aged 5–13 years using mixed methods. Fourteen families were randomized into a game-group and a non-game-group and divided into age groups (game-children (GC), game-parents (GP), non-game-children (nGC), and non-game-parents (nGP)). The families completed a baseline test, a three-week intervention period with or without a game element, and a follow-up test. Qualitative results showed a positive change in food behavior in all families. Quantitative results mainly showed an effect in food neophobia as a decrease was seen in all groups; however, it was only significant (p < 0.05) in three groups (GP, nGC, nGP). No changes were seen in willingness to taste, and only limited changes in liking and number of words used to describe the stimuli. In conclusion, qualitative results showed positive change in the children’s food behavior in most families, indicating a positive effect of performing tastings and tasks together as a family—regardless of the presence of a game element. However, this was not as clear in the quantitative data, indicating that current quantitative tools are less suited to measure complex concepts like willingness to taste.

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