Serving style preferences for various meal arrangements among children

Abstract

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.

11- to 13-Year-Old Children’s Rejection and Acceptance of Unfamiliar Food: The Role of Food Play and Animalness

“…Since the children tasted the pesto alone, most of them concluded that it actually tasted good, and then they would mix the two ingredients. A study of children’s preferred food serving styles showed that young children (7 to 8 years old) preferred dish components to be served separately on the plate, whereas older children (12 to 14 years old) preferred a partly mixed and mixed serving style [ 58 ]. However, the study only included traditional familiar dishes.…”

Serving food in a separated style influences calorie estimates and eating behavior

“…In each condition, two images of the same plate of food were created with identical elements, varying solely in terms of their composition. These images (see Figure 1) were taken from Nielson et al (2018). Participants were recruited via social media at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in Shanghai, China, and were separated into two food evaluation tasks.…”

“…Different from neatness and partitioning, a separated serving style of food means serving foods based on ingredient while maintaining their separation with no sides touching on a plate. For example, spaghetti in a separated serving style (Nielson, Skouw, & Olsen, 2018) is construed as pasta and meat sauce separately placed on a plate without touching the other, rather than served mixed and spilling across the plate.…”

“…Prior research found that different age and gender groups of children exhibit different preferences for serving styles of dishes. Younger girls, for instance, tend toward a separated serving style in order to allow them to decide not only what to eat but what to eat first according to their taste (Nielson, Skouw, & Olsen, 2018). To the best of our knowledge, earlier research has not yet examined the larger effects of a separated serving style on self‐monitoring, on an individual's eating behavior, and on the evaluation of this visual arrangement among adults.…”