In Dijon, the Nuit des Chercheurs explains why children prefer fries to spinach
Are children’s food preferences predictable? this is the theme of a mini-conference proposed this Friday, September 30 on the Dijon campus on the occasion of European Researchers’ Night. Why do our cherubs prefer spinach fries? bean pasta? And finally do all children hate vegetables? Sophie Nicklaus will answer these questions, she is director of research at the taste and food science center at lNRAé (the agronomic research institute)
France Bleu Bourgogne: Let’s take the example of spinach. Why is it difficult to feed them to children?
Sophie Nicklaus : There are plenty of reasons for that. We have easily identified four problems with this kind of food, such as turnips, spinach: their taste, their texture, the fact that they provide few calories, not a lot of marketing and often educational tensions between parents and children.
So the problem is not the spinach alone, but all the talk that also goes with it?
Yes spinach is not marketed. Children live in a food universe where they are watching TV long enough, they see ads for super interesting, super fatty, super sweet foods in general that are made to please them. Next to that, on the spinach which has a little less luck, a little less quality at the base. And in addition, there is the problem of parents who, full of good intentions, want to make their children eat spinach. Sometimes it’s a little at all costs, and it goes wrong. So in the end we rule them out to avoid a war around the plate.
What advice do you give to parents to pass things that do not pass?
It takes consistency to taste, try to avoid adjusting too much to the tastes of the child. If we eat spinach in the family, it is important that the child develops a taste for appreciating spinach because it will allow everyone to eat together. We offer, but we never force a child to finish a plate. It’s completely counterproductive. We accompany if necessary, we work on the recipes. The taste of spinach can be slightly astringent. Adding a little cream, a small bechamel sauce will slightly mask its astringency and allow it to pass. And above all, we avoid educational tensions and anything that can be blackmail. “Finish your spinach and you can have dessert or you can go watch a movie” because that in fact, it simply devalues the food. The child understands very quickly and says to himself “If they have to sing me a little song so I can eat it. There must really be something wrong with this thing!”
Scientifically, do we understand why we don’t like this or that?
There may be a few genetic causes with olfactory receptors that can really make you know something extremely negative when you’ve sent a smell, a food, that’s a possibility. The fact of not having been used to it very early and therefore not having integrated it into his food repertoire. It’s always quite complex, but we are still programs to learn throughout our lives. We have the ability to be able to develop a taste for a food throughout our lives. Sometimes, on a just desire to do it. If I give you a bug, I’ll tell you “You will see after five times. You will like it“There you go, I see you making a face. So I can see that you don’t want to.
You do not remain confined to the university, you carry out your research in collaboration with the school canteens of Dijon.
Indeed, in collaboration with Dijon Métropole, on an implementation satisfaction terminals in the 38 school canteens basics of the city of Dijon to find out what children like. One of the dishes that is very popular is spaghetti Bolognese. In general, fries, potatoes, hazelnut potatoes, etc. are very popular. Conversely, we had braised cabbage with small vegetables which was not very popular, but which was still rated above average. So it was still a fairly honorable score.
Why do we prefer fries to anything else, for example?
So that, we know. Their characteristics are to be grassy and salty. Grasses, that means a lot of energy per 100 grams, that’s high reward value. Neuroscientists tell us that in our brain, on certain areas that light up, that will make us small discharges of dopamine, neurotransmitters linked to pleasure. The more caloric the food, the greater this discharge of pleasure. Already the taste of fries, it’s pleasant, it’s crispy, it’s salty. And in addition to this caloric load, it will still come the pleasure we have in consuming it. Here is why for spinach it is more complicated: it brings much less calories, especially if we do not add the cream, the bechamel sauce. Faced with the fries, it goes a little less well.
To continue this passionate lesson, meet this Friday evening on the Dijon campus from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for this Researchers’ Night. It’s free, open to everyone and always in a very accessible language.