Food Neophobia

Food neophobia is the tendency to avoid novel foods and prefer familiar foods. I feel as if almost everyone experiences a type of this within their lifetime. I remember as a child I would not eat anything that my mother would not eat because it was a different type of food or it was an unfamiliar type of food. But as I got older, I steered away from that type of behavior and I explored different types of food. People are afraid to go out of the box because they feel safe and protected with the ways that they currently practice.
Two factors have been shown to contribute to rejection or acceptance of fruits and vegetables: food neophobia and picky eating, especially in children. Due to the relationship between picky eating and food neophobia, some factors, such as pressure to eat, personality factors, parental practices or feeding styles and social influences, will have similar effects on both magnitude and duration of expression of these behaviors. On the other hand, these constructs may be differentially affected by factors such as age, tactile defensiveness, environment and culture. Many different factors come into play when we talk about neophobia and picky eating when it comes to children.