“What's for dinner?” understanding family food decision-making and wishes of children and their caregivers for plant-based alternatives in family main meals

IF 4.6 2区医学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Appetite Pub Date : 2025-03-15 DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2025.107970

Lotte Pater , Elizabeth H. Zandstra , Vincenzo Fogliano , Bea L.P.A. Steenbekkers

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Abstract

Children are recognized as drivers of change for a sustainable future, beginning with their choices and actions at the dinner table. Therefore, plant-based food should appeal to children to empower them to encourage the family to choose plant-based alternatives during family meals. The current study aimed to investigate both the perspective of children (9- to 11-year-old) and their caregivers on family food decision-making, focusing on the transition to plant-based alternatives within the family.

To gain insight into caregivers' perspectives, 36 caregivers participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews using self-taken photos of their dinner meals to guide the discussions. To understand children's perspectives, 37 children engaged in creative tasks with a design probe box, followed by a semi-structured qualitative interview.

Most caregivers were willing to incorporate plant-based alternatives into their family main meals, either for the entire household or specifically for their child. Addressing children's and caregivers' perception is crucial in the transition to plant-based alternatives to ensure preferences of all family members are met. Governmental institutions and food companies can leverage these research findings to guide the development of appealing plant-based alternatives and create evidence-based consumer behaviour change programs, focusing on meal inspiration and healthiness, ensuring seamless integration into everyday eating habits.

Abstract Image

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“晚餐吃什么？”了解家庭食品决策和儿童及其照顾者对家庭主餐中植物性替代品的愿望。

从他们在餐桌上的选择和行动开始，儿童被认为是可持续未来变革的推动者。因此，植物性食品应该吸引儿童，使他们能够鼓励家人在家庭用餐时选择植物性替代品。目前的研究旨在调查儿童（9至11岁）及其照顾者对家庭食品决策的看法，重点是家庭向植物性替代品的过渡。为了深入了解护理人员的观点，36名护理人员参加了半结构化的定性访谈，使用他们晚餐的自拍照来指导讨论。为了了解儿童的观点，37名儿童使用设计探针盒进行创造性任务，然后进行半结构化定性访谈。大多数看护者愿意将植物性替代品纳入他们的家庭主餐，无论是为整个家庭还是专门为他们的孩子。在向植物性替代品过渡的过程中，解决儿童和照顾者的看法至关重要，以确保满足所有家庭成员的偏好。政府机构和食品公司可以利用这些研究结果来指导开发有吸引力的植物性替代品，并创建以证据为基础的消费者行为改变计划，重点关注膳食灵感和健康，确保无缝融入日常饮食习惯。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Appetite 医学-行为科学

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

11.10%

发文量

566

审稿时长

13.4 weeks

期刊介绍： Appetite is an international research journal specializing in cultural, social, psychological, sensory and physiological influences on the selection and intake of foods and drinks. It covers normal and disordered eating and drinking and welcomes studies of both human and non-human animal behaviour toward food. Appetite publishes research reports, reviews and commentaries. Thematic special issues appear regularly. From time to time the journal carries abstracts from professional meetings. Submissions to Appetite are expected to be based primarily on observations directly related to the selection and intake of foods and drinks; papers that are primarily focused on topics such as nutrition or obesity will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution to the understanding of appetite in line with the journal's aims and scope.