Abstract
Over the past decade, significant efforts have been made to introduce emerging foods into the marketplace to address global food insecurity, sustainability, and environmental challenges. Parents’ attitudes toward food risks, prior food experiences and meal-planning can impact children’s openness to trying emerging foods. This study examined parental decision-making for themselves and their children, and the factors shaping acceptance of emerging foods. An online survey was conducted with parents of children aged 3 to 12 years across New Zealand (N=412). The survey included a food acceptance task across four food categories (novel technologies, futuristic concepts, ethnic foods and common foods), familiarity ratings, the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), Food Neophobia Scale (FNS), Food Technology Neophobia Scale (FTNS), and the Cooking and Food Provision Action Scale (CAFPAS). Parents prioritised weight control, mood regulation, and convenience (p<.05) when choosing food for themselves. In contrast, familiarity, healthiness, and naturalness were prioritised for their children (p<.05). Parents reported higher self-efficacy in preparing food for themselves (p<.05), but lower ability to navigate non-food-related barriers in food provision for themselves. Across food categories, parents were significantly more likely to choose unfamiliar foods for themselves than to offer them to their children (p<.05). FNS and FTNS predicted differences between parental ratings for themselves versus child (p<0.05). These findings highlight distinct parental food decision-making process for themselves compared with their children.