From Taste to Non-Waste: Food Patterns and Family Eating Styles Behind Children’s Acceptance of a Planetary Healthy School Recipe—Findings from a Large-Scale Study in EU School Canteens

Public school canteens are increasingly recognized as welfare institutions democratizing food access and promoting healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns, as well as arenas where children’s tastes are shaped through family socialization and collective dining. Drawing on cultural sociology and practice theory, this study conceptualizes children’s acceptance of new sustainable dishes as negotiation between competing normative contexts, where early forms of singularization emerge. The analysis draws on a large-scale dataset involving 2481 children aged 9–15 across 16 schools in 12 European countries. Acceptance of plant-based meals was assessed by combining self-reported food-related values and participant observation of plate waste. The findings indicate that 75.6% showed at least partial acceptance, with 46.9% leaving nothing on the plate. Among twelve socio-cultural constructs, six showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) associations with plate waste, among which food neophilia was the strongest predictor, followed by peer-oriented canteen sociability and ethical-environmental values, while hedonic orientation predicted higher waste. The results suggest that acceptance is co-produced through home kitchen cultures and institutional settings. Strengthening school–family alignment, embedding menus in local gastronomic contexts, and enhancing conviviality can improve acceptance and reduce waste, positioning canteens as sites for sustainable food systems and democratic gastro-citizenship.