Healthy? Tasty? Children's evaluative categorization of novel foods

This study examined how preschoolers think about novel foods in terms of health and taste. Thirty-nine children ages 4-6 years (M = 4.67) participated in a categorization task in which they saw a picture of a novel food paired with verbal information. Children then evaluated foods by taste and health and rated how much they would like to try the foods. Children displayed a preference for packaged foods by indicating they were yummy and more willing to try them, suggesting a possible association with food marketing. Children readily evaluated foods as healthy when told it "makes you strong" but did not reliably evaluate them as yummy when told it "tastes delicious", suggesting more wariness about adults' taste evaluations.