TY - JOUR AU - Koivisto Hursti , Ulla-Kaisa AU - Sjödén , Per-Olow PY - 1997/12/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Reasons for serving of foods and parental dimensions of food likes and dislikes in Swedish families with children aged 2-17 JF - Food & Nutrition Research JA - fnr VL - IS - SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3402/fnr.v41i0.1751 UR - https://foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/84 SP - 27-32 AB - The aims were to explore dimensions of food likes and dislikes in Swedish parents (56 mothers and 40 fathers) of children age 2-17 and to study what factors are considered important by the primary food decision maker (gatekeeper) when deciding what foods are to be served in the family. The results are based on an ad hoc questionnaire in which the parents were asked to mention three liked and three disliked foods and to describe them using 22 attribute pairs, and on an interview with the gatekeeper. Factor analyses of those attributes were performed on liked and disliked foods separately. There were 7 meaningful orthogonal factors for liked and 6 for disliked foods. Six factors were the same for both types of foods: Health, Taste, Familiarity, Eaten by self and others, Contents and Economy. The additional factor found for liked foods was Smell/ appearance. Individual mean factor ratings were calculated in order to analyse dimensional differences between the liked and disliked foods. The liked and disliked foods were differentiated mainly by their taste. The following factors were considered important by the majority of gatekeepers, when choosing what foods to serve: The food looks appetizing, that there is food variety, that it is nutritious, fresh, home-made, healthy and that the ingredients are fresh. In order to gain additional information about factors affecting individual food choice, studies should be made of gatekeepers in important choice situations; at home, when planning shopping and in the store. ER -