Taste Training: Shaping Healthy Eaters from the Start

People know, and accept as fact, that vegetables are good for the body and that eating more vegetables is part of a healthy diet. People also know the industrialization of the American diet, despite all our advances, access, and abundance, ranks amongst the lowest in global health rankings. And lastly, people also know that providing infants and toddlers with highly nutritious vitamins and minerals at an early age is critical to their longer-term, healthful development.

We know all of this and yet, in the United States, only 1 in 10 adults consumes the recommended daily servings of vegetables. Our youngest eaters fare no better, 60% of baby food products sold in the U.S. fail to meet basic nutritional guidelines, and nearly half contain more sugar than recommended. This isn’t just a parenting problem. It’s a systems-level failure. Despite unprecedented access to food, nutritional science, and healthcare, our nation suffers the highest obesity rates and worst chronic disease burden among peer countries. We are overfed but undernourished, and our food culture reflects it.

What’s worse, these habits start early. Research shows the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are critical in shaping taste preferences and long-term health outcomes. But while other industrialized nations take a whole-food, culturally integrated approach to early childhood nutrition, America’s shelves are still stocked with overly sweet, fruit-heavy purées and ultra-processed snacks. It’s no surprise then that we rank dead last in health system performance among high-income countries because poor nutrition doesn’t just lead to picky eating; it leads to a lifetime of preventable health issues.

That’s where Taste Training™ comes in.

Developed with insights from parents, child development experts, and scientists like Dr. Nicole Avena, a research neuroscientist who studies nutrition, addiction, and the brain, Taste Training is more than a feeding strategy. It’s a science-informed approach to shaping lifelong eating habits by exposing children early and often to a broad spectrum of flavors, especially those underrepresented in the typical American diet like bitter greens, earthy legumes, mild spices, and aromatic herbs.

The goal of Taste Training isn’t to raise miniature food critics, it’s to build familiarity and acceptance of nutritious, complex flavors before a preference for sweetness becomes hardwired. Dr. Avena’s research shows how early, repeated exposure to sugar-rich and ultra-processed foods can create addictive patterns that are difficult to reverse. Taste Training is designed to break that cycle by introducing diverse ingredients during the critical window of palate development, when infants and toddlers are most open to new experiences.

At the heart of the program is a science-led, thoughtful progression in the sequencing and timing in which the flavors are introduced. Kekoa Foods, the creators of this approach to baby food, has carefully curated their recipes and ingredients to align with the science. It begins with foundational vegetables like peas and squash, which are then paired with complementary herbs and gentle spices, gradually layering in more assertive flavors like kale, ginger, and turmeric. Finally, sweeter fruits like apple and mango are added to excite children to eat more fruits. This progression allows young palates to adapt slowly and confidently, building preference through repetition and a sense of trust in what’s being offered.

But the process doesn’t stop once a child eats their first lentil stew or spinach purée. Taste Training is less like a milestone and more like an ongoing practice. It’s like exercise. Just as someone doesn’t stop working out once they get in shape, kids don’t stop forming food preferences after a few bites. They need continued exposure, consistent variety, and caregiver modeling to keep developing healthy eating habits. Training the palate is a lifelong process that starts in infancy but continues well into childhood and beyond.

This approach helps caregivers navigate picky eating and pushes against the broader food culture that underestimates what young children can and should enjoy. It challenges the idea that baby foods need to be sweetened or simplified. Most importantly, it gives families the tools to raise eaters who are curious, flexible, and nourished for a long life of healthy eating.

Embracing this approach, parents and caregivers can lay the groundwork for a generation that doesn’t have to unlearn unhealthy habits later in life. Taste Training is an investment in children’s health that pays dividends for decades to come for the child as they grow into adults and for a society that will benefit from a healthier population.

Written by Daniel Auld, PhD for NextGen Purpose

CoFounder Kekoa Foods