There has never been such a time as now when children's eating habits commanded so much adult attention in China.

McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other less traditional snacks have become some of the most eye-catching scenery in a young Chinese person's life.

Two decades ago, the concept of children food did not exist.

"Food culture is encountering unprecedented changes in this fast changing world," said Guo Yuhua, an associate research fellow with the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Guo and her team spent three years on the study called "Feeding China's Little Emperors," which was initiated by Harvard University.

They made detailed inquires into children's food. They also conducted sample surveys in the countryside of Jiangsu and Hebei provinces.

They also interviewed 30 students between 5 and 11 years old from two elementary schools in Beijing and spoke to the students' family members. The families, from different socio-economic strata, offered a wealth of food for thought, Guo said.

Although she had predicted differences between parents and children, she didn't expect the differences would point to entirely different food philosophies.

Grandparents' diet

Grandparents generally hold traditional views on diet that have been passed down from generation to generation. They believe in a natural harmony of food and give children whatever food they eat. The concepts of scientific feeding methods and specialized children's food sound foreign to grandparents.

Yang Liu, a second-grader who the research team observed, eats breakfast and lunch with his grandmother's family.

Yang ate common rice, vegetables and meat, and his grandma never made anything special for him. Good health calls for eating all kinds of foods, the grandmother told Guo.

Grandparents also adjust diets in accordance with different seasons. Many grandparents, for example, cook mung bean soup for their children in summer to ease body heat according to traditional wisdom, Guo said.

"Compared with their seniors, young parents usually adopt a more scientific approach to food," Guo said.

Parents' selection

Most parents who have received an education above senior high school level understand nutritional elements such as protein, vitamins, starch and fat.

Qi Xin's family, one of those Guo's team studied, is a typical example. The parents of this 8-year-old girl both have medical backgrounds.

Graduated from a medical university, Qi's mother considers the family's diet from a nutrition angle - spareribs for calcium and pig's blood for iron.

She adds other elements to Qi Xin's meals in March and April because she believes these two months are the prime season for children's growth.

Qi's father, who is interested in traditional Chinese medicine, used his book knowledge to feed his daughter.

However, Qi Xin lacked a strong body and was thin. She always failed physical education exams.

"It's a surprise both for them and for me that their child still could not grow well," said Guo.

Children's own choices

But the biggest surprise came from the children themselves.

With China opening to the world economically, global food consumerism has deeply influenced the young generation, Guo said.

Instead of valuing the nutrition, hygiene or price of the food, the children, many of them "little emperors," show more interest in the food's packaging, flavour, grade, originality and level of popularity.

Most children interviewed cite snacks such as ice cream, fast food entrees, candies, dried fruits, cakes and tonics.

According to the sample survey of 9,976 children and parents in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Jinan and Harbin, 91 per cent have eaten fast food at such places as McDonald's and KFC.

And food with exotic names or packed with tiny toys always appeals to children's eyes.

"Red and green light" ice-cream bricks win children's preference for their name and colour. Children feel fantastic when their tongues are tinted with red and green. The colours are made from pigments sweeteners and water.

Zhang Litong, a student in grade five, told Guo that he likes eating "Little Raccoon," an instant noodle, because there is a picture in each package and he can get a shirt after collecting eight pictures of different colours.

"Food has become a symbol of status in children's minds," Guo said.

Hou Dan, a girl of 11 at the time of the survey, left a deep impression on Guo.

A devotee of instant noodles, Hou said she had tasted all varieties of the fast food - partly to fit in with her classmates.

Once her aunt gave her 100 yuan (US$12) for the Spring Festival, and she spent 50 yuan (US$6) on a smorgasbord of instant noodles.

"Whenever there comes some new kind of food, I will try to taste it," Guo quoted Hou Dan as saying. "Otherwise, I feel embarrassed when my classmates talk about those I don't know."

Peer pressure affects many children, Zhang Litong included, from poor families, Guo noted.

The income of Zhang's family is less than 1,000 yuan (US$120) per month, barely enough for expenses.

Zhang never ate fancy snacks or had spare food money in his pocket.

Once when he went out with his father, he asked to have a Wall's ice cream and was scolded for requesting such expensive food.

Then he told his father that once his classmates asked him whether he had ever eaten Wall's and that he said "yes, it tastes great."

"I was afraid of being laughed at," the boy told his father.

"When his father told us the story, tears were brimming in the boy's eyes," recalled Guo.

Traditions die off

While the young generation's tastes change, much of Chinese food culture has been lost, said Guo.

Sweet dumplings for the Lantern Festival, pyramid-shaped dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival and cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival only impress children with their flavour. Guo said her research should offer food for thought about how to cultivate youth.

"From what has occurred in children's food, we could develop a better understanding of cultural changes," she said.

Compared with children in the old times who were taught about food from elder generations, children in modern society can now learn from TV, advertisements, markets, friends or the Internet.

According to the State Statistics Bureau, at the end of 1997, 96.63 per cent urban families in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing owned at least one colour television set. One fourth of the families had two TVs or more.

About 10 per cent of families in Shanghai, and 16 per cent in both Guangzhou and Beijing have personal computers.

What the younger generation knows about modern food far exceeds what their parents and grandparents know.

"Cultural feedback, as opposed to the traditional one-way parent-child interaction, is emerging in this time of drastic social changes," Guo noted.

Children's capability to educate their parents comes from their higher sensitivity and openness to new things, fewer restrictions from tradition and social messages from media, advertising and peer groups.

"The world is new for all people, not only children but also their elders," Guo said.

(From Chinadaily)