Developed with Dr Lucy Cooke, our game Adventurous Eating aims to turn fussy eaters into Adventurous Eaters - but just what is the research behind this? In this article, we explore the SAPERE method and its influence on Adventurous Eating. 

Teach Your Monster Adventurous Eating is designed as a fun game for kids that almost works like a TV show with a different food or vegetable featured in every food party. It has games and catchy songs, plus the chance to grow their own food in Bub’s garden. But as with all our games, underpinning the entertainment is some serious research. In this case the Sapere Method.

What is the Sapere method?

Developed by the French chemist and ethnologist (which is a kind of social scientist) Jacques Puisais, the SAPERE method is based on engaging the senses and knowing their importance in getting to know food and learning eating habits in childhood. The method derives from years of expert research in nutrition and education. 

The SAPERE method was developed to address various eating challenges, including food allergies, promoting diverse eating habits in children, and combating rising obesity rates. Tested on children of different ages, people who worked with the children found measured improvements in varied eating habits.

By making use of all the human senses — smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch — children can learn new things about food through experimentation and their personal experience. The more children engage with food and watch others engage with food too, the more likely they are to build a complete sensory adventure into food. 

This method also encourages children to give their opinions about food and share their experience of trying new things. Any child’s experience of a particular food is not right or wrong, it’s just their experience - which is always ok! Furthermore, during tests, it’s been discovered that when children observe others trying new foods, they’re more likely to give it a go themselves. It is the principles behind this that are woven into the Adventurous Eating game - creating a really fun and safe space for children to explore new foods with their monster… and be encouraged to give them a try in real life too.

Challenges with food can often begin in toddler years

Our Adventurous Eating expert Dr. Lucy Cooke says “People's food preferences and eating habits track through the lifetime. We know that lots of fussy children do eventually grow out of it and become better eaters later, but at the same time, laying down a foundation of good eating in early childhood is likely to track all the way through life. It's just better for children to eat well from the start.” 

Doubts and fear of new food, or ‘food neophobia’, is at its strongest in two to three-year-olds, and it might take a few steps to overcome these fears.

Researchers have observed that the more a child notices that a food substance is available, the more often it will be chosen later. Children need to taste something roughly fifteen to twenty times in order to become familiar with a new food. The research also noted that children who have difficulties with sensory integration (how the brain interprets things we sense) also benefit greatly from the method. 

How does Adventurous Eating help with food aversion?

Adventurous Eating reflects some of the key theory behind the SAPERE method using fun sensory mini-games. Children get to take their monster to a food party, where they encourage them to try a variety of fruit and veg using all their senses. The narrator provides gentle, encouraging language, while the monsters express their preferences throughout the game—perfectly modelling the idea that food is a safe, enjoyable experience and that it's okay not to like everything you try. 

Dr. Lucy Cooke says “Food in reality can be quite stressful for children. If children are able to explore things in an app, with some distance, then it can help reduce anxiety in some children.. it’s just a very good way of educating children about foods without actually having to have the food in situ.”

This idea is supported by parents who have tried the Adventurous Eating game with their children. One parent reported:

 “My child has food aversion and normally requires weeks of occupational therapy to try a new food. After playing your Adventurous Eating game they tried seven new foods! I made a little notebook so they could rate and tell me how each food felt, smelled, looked, sounded, and tasted - just like in your game. I also asked them to rate it on a scale 1 through 10, and if they would ever try it again. Out of the seven different foods my child tried, they liked two of them. That is HUGE progress for them. I am very thankful for your game!”

In the latest update to the Adventurous Eating game, there’s now a useful ‘Practice Mode.’ You can quickly dive into a particular fruit or veg and let your child explore it with their monster (just before they try it in real life), hopefully leading to easier mealtimes!

To maximise the game’s impact, pair it with real-life activities. For example, ask your child “If your monster has explored a tomato today, maybe we could explore a real one together?” Or copy one of Adventurous Eating’s sense games at home and ask some questions about the food. 

We have a helpful list of questions and things to talk about that you can download here. 

Good luck with your adventurous eater!

Al Goss
Product Manager for Teach Your Monster Adventurous Eating