EIT Food Projects, EU Horizon 2020 Collaborative Projects

See & Eat

Healthy eating in childhood tracks into adulthood, so initiatives to promote dietary variety should begin at an early age. Children’s food preferences depend on food familiarity and liking, which research shows can be increased by repeated tasting opportunities. Studies have shown that boosting foods’ visual familiarity before children taste them (e.g. by looking at picture books) further increases their willingness to taste, liking and intake of targeted foods. This project will use the  FoodUnfolded™ portal as a platform to communicate to parents the benefits of familiarising pre-schoolers with vegetables before offering them at mealtimes. The project involves three main activities:

• Creation of interactive ‘See & Eat’ e-books about vegetables, available to download through FoodUnfolded™;
• Evaluation of outcomes of using e-books on children’s liking and intake of targeted foods;
• Creation of online resource for parents, with guidance on using e-books to introduce vegetables.

Check out our See & Eat Resource Pages for access to Vegetable ebooks and activities

Schools Network project

This project developed a network that links EIT Food with existing national schools programs in Europe and related stakeholders, ultimately to promote the exchange of ideas and information, ensuring effective translation of findings. The second-year activity will be focused on communications, and dissemination activities based on the tools developed in the first year of the EIT Food School Network, in European preschools, primary and secondary schools as well as further consolidation of the network itself. The package of tools will include:

• Education tool: new innovative tool focusing on pre-schoolers health behaviour (healthy food acceptance) and self-regulation (pre-school);
• Nutritional education tool: the nutritional understanding and hedonic perception of school meals (primary schools);
• Range of approaches, developed with stakeholders, to positively influence food choice and reduce food waste (secondary schools).

For more information and resources on the School Network Project

Games of Food project

The Games of Food project carried out in 2018-2020 was in collaboration with University of Reading colleagues from Food & Nutritional Sciences Department, the project aims to increase knowledge and awareness of balanced nutrition and a healthy lifestyle through the design and application of games and puzzles. During the three year funded project three games have been created, Zombie Attack The Escape Game, Zombie Attack Card Game and Mission Nutrition The Escape Game.

For more information and resources relating to the Games of Food Project