A "Taste" Education: essential for children according to EduSens

March 24, 2009 During a scientific conference on March 10 to 12, Pascal Schlich, director of the LIRIS laboratory of the European Center for the Sciences of Taste, presented the project Edusens. Accredited by Vitagora, this project has the aim of studying the effects of a “sensory education” on the dietary behavior of children aged 8-10 years. In total, 7 research teams were involved in this project*, including 4 Dijon-based teams – a total of 14 researchers.

For the program of this project, 4 specific experiments were carried out, each for duration of 15 months. “We wanted to successively test the effect of a sensory education given in the classroom, then in a school canteen, finally at home”, explains Pascal Schich. In reference to the “Taste Classes” carried out several decades ago by Jacques Puisais, these 3 experiments were called “Classes du Gout” (Taste Classes), “Restos du Goût” (Taste Cafeteria) and “Familles du Goût” (Taste Families). For each experiment, an experimental group, undergoing the sensory education, and a control group were put together, each composed of around a hundred children ages 8-10 years. “For the last 3 years, we have had 530 children at the European Center for the Sciences of Taste and have devoted 188 days to the various sessions and laboratory analyses”, Pascal Schich explains.

If the results have not yet all been analyzed, the essential conclusion is already available. “We can confirm that “Taste lessons” are essential for allowing children to acquire the ability to verbalize their sensations. They can then go beyond the hedonic stage to the descriptive stage” he explains. An education that seems to allow children to adopt behavior that is more open to newness and experimentation. But if this education appears to have an impact on the tasks and behaviors with a cognitive aspect, it is not the same concerning affective responses to differing formulations of the same product. In this case, experience seems more important. “It seems that a sensory education must be accompanied by sensory experiences” underlines Pascal Schlich who adds that, as often is the case with education, the absence of the parental relay means that the experiment could not go as far as would have been liked. This raises the point of the role that school can play in organizing activities in close partnership with families.

*
- Equipe Liris, Centre Européen des Sciences du Goût (INRA-CNRS-Université de Bourgogne)
- Unité Mixte de Recherche FLAVIC (INRA-Agro Sup Dijon)
- Institut du Goût (Association loi 1901)
- Unité de Sociologie Rurale, AgroParis Tech
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de l’Education (IREDU) – (CNRS-Université de Bourgogne)
- Faculté de Médecine de Dijon
- Utrecht University, Psychology Department

Contact
Pascal Schlich
Email: schlich@cesg.cnrs.fr

Source: Agence JFD and Co