Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the key factors in controlling the ingredients of lunch boxes for young children at kindergarten age. It also examined strategies to change frequencies of ingredients of children's lunch boxes to control food palatability and eating habits in their adulthood. A questionnaire was distributed to 770 mothers of preschool children in Nishinomiya city. Frequencies of ingredients of lunch boxes and drawings of lunch boxes by mothers were investigated. Both of these assessments showed that meat was used at extremely high-frequency, while fish was rarely used in lunch boxes. Path analysis showed that meat was used at higher frequency by mothers because children preferred meat, and that fish was used by mothers who tried to emphasize the importance of nutrition in lunch boxes. However, path analysis made it clear that cooking fish increased the time it took to prepare lunch boxes. Furthermore, the mothers did not have a great deal of information about fish recipes. Thus, taking into account children's tastes in food, lack of time for cooking, and lack of knowledge about recipes we can see why there is a decrease in the frequencies of fish in children's lunch boxes. Hence, promoting the importance of balanced nutrition through lectures on simple, quick fish recipes would increase the frequency of fish in children's lunch boxes which might lead them to eat more fish in their adulthood.
