Abstract

MAIZ, Edurne; URDANETA, Elena  and  ALLIROT, Xavier. The importance of involving boys and girls in food preparation. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2018, vol.35, n.spe4, pp.136-139.  Epub Sep 28, 2020. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.2139.

Child food neophobia is usually associated with a lower consumption of fruits and vegetables, and the latter, is related to a less healthy diet. Different types of programs have been conducted in order to reduce food neophobia and thus increase the intake of fruits and vegetables in childhood. Among them, sensory education programs have shown their effectiveness.

On the other hand, various nutritional programs that include garden and food preparation activities are used for the same purpose. However, the heterogeneity of programs and their evaluations, make it difficult to reach firm conclusions about its effectiveness. Several experimental studies have been conducted to determine the effect of each of the stages of preparing food separately: the selection of the recipe, the purchase of food, cooking and the presentation of the plate. While the results are promising, it is necessary to realize studies in real environments to validate such experiments. An example is the EgizuSUK project, carried out at schools and that encompasses different sessions that involve children in the different stages of the preparation of new foodstuffs, and whose results, compared with a control group, seem to be in line with the experimental studies.

Finally, in order to promote healthy eating in children, it is considered that programs should include elements of nutrition education, sensory education, as well as culinary skills. In addition, school setting as well as the family context should be taken into consideration as key elements in the development of such programs.

Keywords : Cooking; Schools; Childhood; Food neophobia; Nutritional education.

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