Hello my dear friends! 

Do you like to try new foods? Or are you one of those who distance themselves from it? This blog post may be about you. In this post, I will talk about people who have a fear of trying new foods. Curious? Come on, let’s see.

Fear of trying new foods is defined as “reluctance to eat new foods” and “a behavior that rejects suggestions to try unknown foods”. Fear of trying new foods basically reflects people’s natural tendency to dislike or be suspicious of new and unfamiliar foods.

However, the fear of trying new foods is thought of as a tendency not only to avoid unfamiliar foods, but also to dislike unfamiliar foods. Therefore, it is possible to perceive the fear of trying new foods as a behavioral and personality trait that predicts a reluctance to try unfamiliar foods.

Fear of trying new food during the development of child

Fear of trying new foods is considered a normal stage in child development, and although it is more common in childhood, it persists into adulthood. It usually appears between the ages of two and six and persists at a steady level in adults.

Fear of trying new foods varies according to age, education, degree of urbanization, income and culture in both adults and children.

However, people differ significantly in their willingness to try new foods. While some individuals take great pleasure in eating new foods, others show strong resistance.

Research on fear of trying new food 

People with a fear of trying new foods (neophobia) tend to have negative attitudes and lower expectations about the taste of food. The neophobic personality is a determining factor for the acceptance of new foods. Fear of trying new foods has been conceptualized in the literature from two perspectives; (1) Fear of trying new food can be seen as a personality trait at the root of individual differences, (2) Fear of trying new food can be seen as a behavior potentially influenced by situational factors.

The hypothetical evolutionary significance of food neophobia raises the question of whether the fear of trying new food, which is considered a personality trait, has a genetic component to the variation and, when it comes to the genetic component, how large is its impact. In mice, evidence of a genetic effect on the fear of trying new foods was found and an effective locus mapped to eight chromosomes was found. Based on these results, it was investigated whether there is hereditary diversity in people who have a fear of trying new foods.

Results from Finnish families and British female twin sample data suggest that there is a strong genetic influence in fear of trying new foods.

New Foods and Fear of Trying New Foods

Fear of trying new foods is studied in the context of new foods. However, in general terms, the perceived novelty of a food varies between individuals as well as the sensory characteristics of the food. If the food is not familiar to people, that food is new.

Being familiar with a food depends on one’s own experiences and socio-cultural factors (for example, certain foods are only available in certain countries or different social classes may have different dietary habits due to their income levels). This situation affects both the nutritional quality of individuals and the development of food preferences.

In the literature, new foods are defined as any food that has not been used as food before by consumers and has certain characteristics. With the introduction of new food products in different categories such as organic food, genetically modified food and ethnic foods, an almost unlimited number of food alternatives have emerged for consumers.

Five types of new foods have been described in the literature; 1. Functional foods/foods that, beyond meeting the body’s basic nutritional needs, provide additional benefits on human physiology and metabolic functions. 2. Genetically modified foods/foods that are produced by altering the gene sequence or by gene transfer. 3. Nutritionally modified foods/foods that contain more fiber or less fat, sodium or sucrose than conventional ones. 4. Organic food/food produced under conventional farming conditions without fertilizers or pesticides. 5. Ethnic foods/foods that are foreign to our own culinary culture but familiar to other culinary cultures.

Studies on new foods have often focused on “ethnic” foods. For example, there are studies showing that reluctance to try ethnic foods is associated with food neophobia. Willingness to try ethnic foods appears to correlate differently with aging than willingness to try other types of new foods. Some studies show that people are more willing to try ethnic foods as they get older, while other studies show that people are more reluctant to try other types of new foods as they get older.

Are you one of those people who are afraid of trying new foods? What do you think about this subject? 

Let’s meet in the comments ☺ 

Until the next post, take care of yourself, eat well ☺