We recently ran a survey to get a better understanding of parents cooking habits in the UK, and found that more than 45% of them are cooking an extra meal each night to appease fussy eaters…

To get to the bottom of why we – especially children – have different taste preferences, we have been working closely with the Flavour Expert and Food Scientist, Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart, who has been able to shed some much-needed light on the subject so many of us face in our day-to-day.

“How we perceive flavour involves all of the five senses, and taste, look, texture, smell and even the sound food makes when eating it can all affect whether or not we like a certain food. But our food likes and dislikes are also influenced by many other factors, many of which relate to the environment in which we live and grew up in.”

When it comes to the foods parents find most difficult to get their kids to eat, mushrooms, leeks, onions and cauliflower prove the hardest to slip into their meals. A third said their child would turn their nose up at anything spicy, while one in four believe their child is resistant to anything on their plate which is green.

When we asked Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart about the best way to overcome fussy eating, she said:

“Creating a positive environment around food in the home, and eating healthy foods together with your kids, are beneficial ways to counteract fussy eating and create good eating habits.”

Head Chef Andre added:

“Dinner time should be an opportunity to expand our kids’ food horizons, helping them to discover new foods they love, rather than feeding them the same meals night in, night out. We listen to both parents and kids who use HelloFresh to understand what the whole family want from their evening meal and develop recipes that both adults and kids enjoy so everyone can share and enjoy the one meal.”

Recipes The Whole Family Will Love:

Our family-friendly recipes have big sticky thumbs up from our little food experts and are guaranteed dinner-winners for the whole family. One recipe that everyone can enjoy? Dinner is solved.

Creamy Veggie Penne: Available From May 4th

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Creamy Chicken Curry: Available From May 11th

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For family-favourites that everyone will enjoy, try out our Family Box for recipes that will get a big thumbs up from everyone.