Grundsmaksperception hos 4-6-åriga förskolebarn

: Förmåga att identifiera smaker i livsmedel före och efter träning med grundsmaklösningar.

Abstract

Individual experiences of taste differs greatly and is partially due to both the ability to detect basic taste and the intensity at which it is interpreted. Compared to grown-ups, children tend to show a higher preference toward sweet and a greater aversion towards bitter. The purpose of this study was to examine 4-6-year old pre-school children’s ability to identify basic tastes in food before and after training with basic taste solutions. The children’s ability to articulate their taste experiences were also studied before basic taste training. The research were conducted at a single pre-school, eleven children participated in the study which involved four different parts. A group discussion about (basic) tastes, testing of ten different foods accompanied by continued conversations about what the food tasted like. The third part was training with basic taste solutions where the children got to practice recognizing sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. The last part were a basic taste test in which the children were asked to answer what basic tastes they could identify in each food. The results showed a significant difference in the children’s ability to identify salty tastes compared to other basic tastes, also a notably improved ability to detect and articulate all basic tastes after basic taste training. The children went from naming “tasty” and “disgusting” as tastes, to being able to put words on, and identify, many of the basic tastes in each food. A short training session with basic tastes is a simple method which can benefit young children by contributing to a more positive and curious approach towards new flavours and food in general.