Why children refuse new foods

Do you wonder why your child refuses a food that you KNOW they would love if they just tried it?

Are you left gobsmacked that they turn down the donut/popsicle/biscuit, even though EVERYONE loves them?

I came across an interesting piece of research over the weekend that asked children why they refused foods, and their answers provided some fascinating insight.

As part of research for my PhD I have been reading science papers from all over the world. I of course, concentrate on studies that look at picky eating in children, however, I also read research into supporting children to eat more widely and well and other areas that may be of use for fussy eaters.

One of the areas I’ve been focusing on recently is food neophobia.

Neophobia is the fear of something new and therefore, food neophobia is the refusal to taste a new food.

There is a developmentally normal stage of food neophobia that occurs in the toddler years that prevents children from eating things that may be dangerous. However, for some children this stage seems exaggerated and/or does not seem to go away.

There is some debate among scientists about what is picky eating and what is neophobia, but many (and I agree) like to think of neophobia as part of picky eating.