Develop your child's taste and enjoyment of food

Taste is awakened through all 5 senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch) talking about food with your child in different ways, rather than just "I like/don't like" or "It's healthy/unhealthy".

Explore new flavours together by playing guessing games.

For example, you could guess what noise the food will make when you bite into it.

Your child needs to get used to new flavours. Let them explore in their own time. Offer the same food on a regular basis and don't give up, even if they reject it once, twice or 3 times.

Don't force them to eat it, but keep offering the same food. Little by little, they'll become used to it, then taste it and end up enjoying it. Add some colour to the plate to pique their curiosity.

Try to distinguish between refusing a new food and a reaction of actual disgust. It may be that your child can't stand the taste of a particular food.

Start by offering the food in the same form (i.e. how it is cooked and presented). Once your child is used to the food, you can change the way you prepare it.

Children's eating habits

Children's eating habits differ to those of adults. Children have different preferences in terms of the way food looks, smells and tastes, and are often wary of foods they don't know.

Food should taste nice, satisfy hunger and not take up too much time, as children don't like to spend too long at the table.

Hunger, thirst and feeling full

Hunger and feeling full are determined by your body's energy needs. In young children, these concepts are not yet influenced by external factors. Emotions such as joy, sadness or stress can affect children's appetites.

You only start to feel full after 10-20 minutes, even if your stomach is already full before that.

Children's taste preferences

From birth, children like sugary flavours. Sugar is a natural indicator that food is digestible and provides energy. This preference would have guided our ancestors towards the ripe fruits and honey they needed to survive. Nowadays, where sweets are cheaply available everywhere, this " taste for survival " can prove fatal in many cases.

Children often don't like bitter flavours. In the natural environment, this aversion is a mechanism to protect us from ingesting toxic substances, as toxic plants and animals tend to emit bitter substances to distinguish themselves.

Acid is also a strong flavour that many people don't particularly like. This aversion also protects us against foods we shouldn't eat, such as fermented fruit and sour milk, and makes us wary of excess acid, as with vinegar or unripe fruit.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't offer bitter or acidic foods to children. Exploring these foods is part of their nutritional education. Bitter and acidic flavours can be tempered using milk, yoghurt, cheese, sugar or salt.

Children need to learn how to taste.

Becoming familiar with different flavours, foods and dishes is a long-term, complex and very individual process. You cannot simply offer a dish once or twice and hope your child enjoys it. It is crucial to awaken your child's curiosity, by getting them involved in picking fruit and vegetables, or helping with shopping and preparing food. This will give your child new food experiences, far beyond simply tasting. Observation and imitation are key elements in this learning process.

At the table, children often pick up the preferences and aversions of the people around them. This includes how they eat and their approach to food. For younger children, this usually means the adults they eat with and who prepare their meals. As they grow up, they will also imitate other children and adults, usually those they "admire" and look up to.