Texture and chemical feeling descriptors that 6-11 year olds and adults associate with food in the mouth

Abstract

Little is known about children's vocabulary for describing food. The present study investigated the vocabulary for food texture and chemical feelings (e.g., Spicy) of 6 to 11 year olds and adults. Subjects judged if 126 food words (e.g., Chewy), 10 nonfood words (e.g., Jump), and 10 nonwords (e.g., Frunp) were used to talk about food in the mouth. Grade 1 children were interviewed, whereas those in Grades 3 and 5 and adults filled out a questionnaire. The percentage of food-word judgements was 75% or greater for 13 items in Grade 1, 9 items in Grade 3, 38 items in Grade 5, and 60 items for adults. This vocabulary increases cumulatively with age from Grade 3, words that met the 75% criterion for one age group also did for older ones. At all ages, these words referred to a wide range of attributes. A follow-up study showed that more Grade 1 children correctly associated Greasy and Tender with hot chips and meat than judged these descriptors to be food-words. This result implies that descriptors are associated with specific foods before being connected with the label 'Food'.