No matter where in the world we have worked with kids on various food and beverage projects, inevitably we are tasked to learn from young people about texture. Product developers and marketers, in their desire to add excitement to products and to differentiate, often try to play around with the texture. Inevitably this generates ideas that add texture – often in the form of ‘bits’ or particulates – to the product.
Though intellectually this seems a good idea, it rarely works. Why? Because no matter how hard we’ve tried, the vast majority of kids just don’t like bits (particulates) in their food. I have seen kids stare in horror at food products that look as if they MIGHT have bits (though amusing to see, it does not make product developers or marketers very happy at all!).
There MAY be one exception to this – but it involves providing a mechanism that allows the child to control the ‘bits’ and put them into the product him/herself. Examples of this are the yoghurt products that have a separate cup or tray with pieces that the child then blends into the product – but even in these products I have seen many children eat the yoghurt and the particulates separately.
This is a physiological phenomenon – young babies have been observed spitting out particulates in food. This is believed to be an innate behavior driven by safety – some think to protect against choking; others think it is because in our distant history, seeds and particulates may have been poisonous. But whatever the reason, the observed behavior remains the same: kids prefer smooth textures, with no potential of bits or even the perception of bits.
Recurring truths are incredibly interesting. And though I always want to give every product and every idea a fair chance, I suspect that it will be unlikely that kids will learn to love bits in the food – at least in my lifetime.