CONSUMER AWARENESS OF AND ATTITUDES TO FOOD TEXTURE II. Children and Teenagers

A discussion of children’s and teenagers’ attitudes to food texture is presented based on published data relative to growth and development and on information obtained from original consumer interviews. It is pointed out that, in this population group, physiological factors appear to be dominant in shaping attitudes to texture. These are modified by psychological, social, cultural, and other factors in the adult consumer. With both children and teenagers, texture is an important attribute of foods influencing their likes and dislikes. In the young child, attitudes to food texture follow the developmental sequence of oral functions, and textures are rejected which are difficult to manipulate in the mouth at a particular stage of physical development. The high degree of texture awareness of teenagers may possibly surpass that of adults. Teenagers also appear to have a better understanding of the concept of texture suggesting that this attribute may assume greater importance with the oncoming generation of adult consumers.