Why are smoother and less complex food (ex. no chunks or crunchy bits in a sauce) more appealing when your young?
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Smaller windpipe so more easily swallowed, less developed teeth and developing teeth so chewing food is sometimes difficult or painful.
Sometimes underdeveloped sensory integration or processing system will contribute to texture preference. For example pulp in OJ. Not to many kids care for it. But as you grow and sensory processing develops pulp is more tolerable.
There is some debate about this but one theory posits that the reason young children prefer food without chunks is because they are used to food without chunks. It is common for parents to feed infants pureed foods and it is theorized that the longer this goes on, the less open to foreign textures the child will be in early adolescence.
More often than not, as a child grows, they slowly try more and more foods with unique textures and chunks, allowing them to slowly overcome their apprehension, but results vary.
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