Posted on 09/24/2012 4:09:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
To kids, vegetables with names like Power Punch Broccoli and X-Ray Vision Carrots are easier to swallow, a scientific study by Cornell University shows.
Researchers studied how using attractive names would influence elementary-aged children’s consumption of vegetables, according to a statement from the school.
In the first study, plain old carrots were transformed into “X-ray Vision Carrots” and 147 students ranging from 8-11 years old tasted the foods.
They found that by naming carrots “X-ray vision carrots,” 66 percent of the carrots were eaten, far greater than the 32 percent eaten when labeled “Food of the Day.” Only, 35 percent were eaten when unnamed.
“This research suggests that schools have a low-cost or even no-cost solution to induce children to consume more nutritious foods,” said Brian Wansink, lead author of the study and professor of marketing at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell.
His co-authors are Cornell associate professor of marketing David Just, Collin Payne of New Mexico State University, and student Matthew Klinger.
“These results demonstrate that using attractive names for healthy foods increases kid’s selection and consumption of these foods and that an attractive name intervention is robust, effective and scalable at little or no cost,” Wansink said. “This research also confirms that using attractive names to make foods sound more appealing works on individuals across all age levels.”
Here's what I think about that...
While I am all for encouraging kids to eat their vegetables, I question the name they chose. Who wouldn’t try a food that has a name implying you might gain super powers if you eat it? Couldn’t hurt, right?
And what happens when the child eats the carrots but can’t see through walls?
“Trees” seems to always work with broccoli. It did for me.
I was 10 years old before I realized that they weren’t “eat’cha damn peas”
Fungus works for cauliflower.
I’m Popeye.....and I got one friggn’ big arm..toot toot
How about, “Tastes Like Crap Zucchini,” or, “Disgusting Broccoli?”
A related study found that an emetic works better when referred to as Obama juice, and that several laxatives emblazoned with Jay Carney’s image worked so effectively that their dosages could be halved.
Oh, good Lord.
Lets all pretend our kids are stupid as pudding and lie to them.
Who comes up with this?
If you fix vegetable well, kids will eat them - it is a given.
Just boiling them until there is no flavor left is not a way for kids to like veggies.
Mustard sauce works wonders for Brussels sprouts.
Lima beans are really good when cooked with fire roasted corn.
I refuse to eat any more vegetables till people stop calling them “veggies.”
Try fire roasting the zucchini and mustard/cheese sauce for the broccoli.
i always eat my veggies and still do. okra isn’t popular with me, but i eat much of everything else. i buy everything now, of course, so i don’t have to eat things i am not overly fond of.
sometimes the raw veggies taste much better than the cooked.
but in my house growing up, we were told to eat our veggies and we did. no problem.
of course, my parents were adults and didn’t whine and wet themselves. they simply made us eat them.
don’t know why this is such a problem. lack of parenting skills, i guess.
never did like ice milk growing up, they called it ice cream, but i knew better.
Blessings, bobo
My parents were so good, they didn’t have to say a word to make me eat my vegetables.The “look” was all I needed.
Ah....The look....Fond memories.
I would chew a diaper before I’d eat broccoli.
One of the best parts of being a grownup is not having to eat broccoli. If the serpent had been on a broccoli plant we’d all still be in Paradise.
Ping
ROFL!!
...and then tip them both into the trashcan?
Just kidding, I’m sure your recipes are good. I just can’t tolerate zucchini.
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