Dietary change is one of the most powerful ways for an individual to reduce their contribution to climate change, particularly through the adoption of a plant-based diet. Making major changes to one’s diet is not easy, however, especially once people reach adulthood and their eating habits have become long-established.

This study suggests that educating kids about the origins and impacts of their food choices early on could lead them to adopt positive attitudes towards climate-friendly diets. Past studies have found that most young children have wide gaps in their knowledge about where their food comes from. In fact, parents even admit to lying to their children to get them to eat certain foods. Meat in particular presents a conundrum for parents, who teach their kids to treat animals with kindness but avoid telling them about the realities of animal slaughter involved in producing meat.

The researchers recruited 176 children between four and seven years of age from an urban area in the southeastern U.S., representing a diverse sample in terms of age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. These children were asked to participate in two tasks: a food origin sorting task followed by an edibility sorting task. In the food origin sorting task, children were asked to determine whether each of 13 common and familiar processed foods (represented by pictures) came from animals or came from plants. In the edibility sorting task, children were asked to determine whether each of 14 potential food sources were “okay to eat” versus “not okay to eat.” Pictures in the edibility sorting task included animals and plants that are culturally acceptable to eat in the U.S. (e.g., a chicken, a tomato) as well as items that aren’t culturally acceptable to eat (e.g., dirt, a dog).

Plant-Based Or Animal-Based?

Results of the food origin sorting task show that children struggle to correctly identify whether common and familiar foods are plant-based or animal-based. Over 30% of kids mistakenly identified animal-based foods like hamburgers, hot dogs, bacon, and even chicken nuggets as coming from plants. On the other hand, nearly half of the kids (47%) thought that French fries, which are plant-based, come from animals. Around a third of children also mistakenly sorted popcorn (35%) and almonds (32%) as coming from animals. Children ages four to five made more mistakes than children ages six to seven, especially when it came to correctly identifying animal-based foods.

Acceptable Or Unacceptable To Eat?

Results of the edibility sorting task show that many children identify animals like cows, pigs, and chickens as unacceptable to eat. In fact, the majority of young children ages four to five thought that cows and pigs were not potential food sources (84% and 79%, respectively). These mistakes were less common in older children. Interestingly, fish were the one animal who most kids (67%) correctly identified as a food source, perhaps because fish are the least similar to humans. This finding suggests that younger children’s errors might reflect a bias against viewing animals as food sources, especially animals who are most similar to humans (i.e., mammals).

In both the food origin sorting task and the edibility sorting task, children made more mistakes with animal-based foods. Within animal-based foods, children made more mistakes with sorting the origin and edibility of meat compared to milk and eggs. The authors suggest that many children may be unaware of the fact that meat comes from slaughtered animals. This ignorance may be due to a combination of parents intentionally withholding this information and modern industrialization distancing urban residents from the food production process.

If, as this study suggests, younger children tend not to view animals as a food source until later socialization, climate-friendly plant-based diets may be easier for children to swallow (pun intended) compared to adults with long-established dietary habits. Children might even influence their parents’ own dietary choices. Of course, parents and doctors must take special care to ensure that developing children meet all of their nutritional needs, which may involve careful nutritional planning and regular bloodwork.

Advocates can use the findings of this study to push for more children’s education on the origins and impacts of food. Parents can advocate for climate-friendly dietary options at their kids’ schools and ask their children’s doctors to provide information on plant-based nutrition. Ultimately, children are the ones who will face the consequences of climate change as they grow into adults, so it only makes sense to empower them to take action in their own lives to help keep Earth habitable.