Food Preference of Elementary School Children Under meal service in Taejon

Koo, Nan Sook; Park, Chong Im

Abstract

This study was done to provide basic information for nutrition education and meal planning by analyzing children's food preference. For this purpose, 938 children from eleven elementary schools under meal service were randomly selected in Taejon. The survey was conducted by questionnaires, and data were analyzed by SAS program. Children prefered ssalbap to japkogbap and liked kimbap the best among one dish foods. But their most favorite foods were chajangmyun in noodles, miyeokkuk in soups, and chamchichigae in pot stew. Sixth graders like kimchichigae more than third graders. In the case of chims, children like duejigalbichim, sogalbichim, and dalgyalchim. In the jorim, they prefered duejigogi jangjorim, mechurial jangjorim to any other jorims. The preference of bockum, namul, jangachi, and jotgal is generally low. Children's preference is high in fruit, drink, fried food, one dish food and is low in jangachi, namul, bockum. These results suggest that the preference of foods should be fully taken into consideration in school meal service so that they can eat foods with pleasure. Foods, which are low in preference due to the cooking method, should be prepared with new cooking methods developed specifically for children. 'Even though the preference of food is low to the children, the nutritious foods should be utilized in the school menu. Then, the imporatance of food intake must be taught to them through nutrition education.