Why Don't Kids Eat Their Veggies? Food Pairing Could Be The Difference Maker

Kids just don't want to eat their vegetables. It's a fact of life that every parent is faced with at the dinner table at one point or another, and now it's having adverse effects. Nine out of 10 children still don't eat enough vegetables, according to the CDC.

However, researchers from Texas A&M University, led by Ariun Ishdorj, have discovered that vegetables being left untouched isn't because kids have a general distaste for them - it's because of what foods they're being paired with.

In a recent study that analyzed plate waste data from almost 8,500 students, researchers discovered that when vegetables like broccoli, spinach, or green beans are paired with foods that kids find delicious - and distracting - they'll ignore their vegetables. For example, when school lunches most popular items, like chicken nuggets and burgers, are on the menu for the day, vegetable food waste numbers rose significantly.

When paired with less beloved foods, like deli sliders or baked potatoes, kids were more far more likely to ignore their vegetables, according to the Washington Post.

"Pairings of entrées and vegetables are an important consideration when assessing plate waste among elementary school children," the researchers said. 

An inverse effect was also found to occur, with researchers noting that when popular vegetables - such as starchy, fried potatoes - were offered, children were more likely to eat less of their main entree. This knowledge could help end the persistent problem of food waste in schools.

The study highlighted a way of gauging a way that vegetables paired with certain foods can help reduce food waste. This is a difficult issue to tackle, as children today are not eating extraordinarily healthy by any means. Additionally, these unhealthy eating habits, like the popular pairing of tater tots and a hamburger, have resulted in a 26 percent food waste, on average, according to the study.

Traci Mann, a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, studied eating habits and dieting for more than two decades, and believes food pairings are crucial in upping the attractiveness of food. Mann has developed a strategy of putting the vegetable on the plate first, and by itself, calling it the "get along with a vegetable" strategy.

"Normally, vegetables will lose the competition that they're in - the competition with all the other delicious food on your plate," Mann said. "You just eat your vegetable first, before any of the other food is there. Eat them before other food is on your plate, or even at your table. And that way, you get them when you're hungriest and unable to pick something else instead.

Mann has stated that this strategy has also worked with children. When tested in school cafeterias, the amount of vegetables eaten quadrupled.

"It's just about making it a little harder to make the wrong choices, and a little easier to make the right ones," Mann said.

Additional research from the University of Leeds has found that introducing children to vegetables as early as possible can also aid in vegetable consumption among kids. The study found that even fussy eaters were more prone to eating more of new vegetables each time they're offered, compared to older children, who are more likely to refuse, according to a release.

"If you want to encourage your children to eat vegetables, make sure you start early and often. Even if your child is fussy or does not like veggies, our study shows that 5-10 exposures will do the trick," Professor Marion Hetherington of the Institute of Psychological Sciences.

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