Children and eating animals

This research consisted of 176 children (4-7 years old, 47% female, 48% non-Hispanic white). They live in the “metropolitan area in southeastern region of the United States.”

“We found widespread errors in American children’s basic understanding of food. Four- and five-year-old children in our sample failed to accurately identify the origins of animal-based foods on a consistent basis. For example, children commonly classified bacon and hot dogs as plant-based foods. Similarly, the young children we tested were not able to reliably identify animals that are culturally appropriate to eat in the United States. Instead, irrespective of their cultural status as a food source, they showed a strong bias to sort animals [especially cows, pigs, chickens] as ‘not OK to eat.'”

This ties in with the question whether eating animals is natural.