Economic constraints on taste formation and the true cost of healthy eating

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 148; pp. 34 - 41
• Main Author: Daniel, Caitlin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2016; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Boston; Caregivers; Caring; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Choice Behavior; Decisions; Diet; Diet - economics; Diet - psychology; Family; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Food choice; Food cost; Food Preferences; Health Behavior; Health disparities; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Income; Low income groups; Male; Middle Aged; Parents - psychology; Preferences; Primary care; Primary health care; Purchasing; Qualitative Research; Risk; Socioeconomic Factors; Taste; Taste formation; United States; Waste; Young Adult; Boston; Food choice; United States; Family; Food cost; Waste; Taste formation; Health disparities
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.025

This article shows how an interaction between economic constraints and children's taste preferences shapes low-income families' food decisions. According to studies of eating behavior, children often refuse unfamiliar foods 8 to 15 times before accepting them. Using 80 interviews and 41 grocery-shopping observations with 73 primary caregivers in the Boston area in 2013–2015, I find that many low-income respondents minimize the risk of food waste by purchasing what their children like—often calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods. High-income study participants, who have greater resources to withstand the cost of uneaten food, are more likely to repeatedly introduce foods that their children initially refuse. Several conditions moderate the relationship between children's taste aversion and respondents' risk aversion, including household-level food preferences, respondents' conceptions of adult authority, and children's experiences outside of the home. Low-income participants' risk aversion may affect children's taste acquisition and eating habits, with implications for socioeconomic disparities in diet quality. This article proposes that the cost of providing children a healthy diet may include the possible cost of foods that children waste as they acquire new tastes. •Low-income parents buy foods that their children like to avoid food waste.•High-income parents have more money to give children foods they may reject.•Parents' tastes attenuate their reluctance to expose children to new foods.•Low-income parents' risk aversion may affect children's taste formation.•Accounting for waste may yield better estimates of children's diet cost.