It’s been a while since I have run a teen program, at my new job I will be hosting one a month. Food is always a great draw for teens so I decided to host a Teen Taste Test Challenge. Teens were blindfolded and tasted a variety of foods, every item they guessed accurately earned them 1 point. The person with the most points picked a gently used book to take home. Then we ranked different brands of chips and soda from favorite to least favorite. This program was a lot of fun! It cost a little more than I typically like to spend but it brought in some new faces and everyone signed up for next month’s program! I will definitely be repeating this again in the future.

Prep

To prepare for this program I created a test sheet. I had a blind taste test portion and a rank it portion. There were 8 lines for the blind taste test and stars for rank it. Every participant received a blindfold, water, napkin, pencil and test sheet. I planned what I was purchasing before the program but made a few last minute adjustments based on grocery store sales. To set up the program I put each food item into a reusable cup, lined the cups on a cart and covered the food with paper towels. For the rank it portion I put chips and soda into cups and numbered them. I wrote down on a piece of paper what brand the numbers corresponded to so I would remember.

Blind Taste Test

To start I held a blind taste test. The teens were given blindfolds, water, a piece of paper and a pencil. I kept the food covered and out of eye sight from the teens. I instructed them to put on their blindfolds, retrieved the items and then place them in front of the teens. Then they tasted the foods. Once everyone was done I removed the cups that held the food, had them take off their blindfolds and write down what they thought the food was.

Here is what they tasted:

• Parmesan cheese
• Cool Ranch Doritos
• Red pepper
• Skittles
• Honeydew melon
• Frosted mini wheats
• Butternut squash
• Pizza goldfish

The teens found it easy to guess the Parmesan cheese, Doritos and peppers. Honeydew melon and butternut squash really threw them for a loop. The teens all knew it was cereal, skittles and goldfish but some found it difficult to guess the right flavor. All of the teens were very closely tied with points but one girl did win with 11 points.

Rank It

The teens enjoyed the casualness of the rank it portion. They were able to go up to the table, enjoy a chip and some soda. Not only did they rate the chips and soda but they also decided to guess the brand. I was pretty impressed with how well they knew their brands.

What we ranked:

• Lays Potato Chips
• Cape Cod Potato Chips
• Munchos Potato Crisps
• Pepsi
• Coca-Cola
• Zevia cola flavor

Tips

Here are some tips I have for those of you who plan on running a similar program:

• Prepare everything in advance – make sure you have the food lined up and ready to go at least 30 minutes before the teens arrive. I had several arrive early and they were staring into the glass door trying to make out what the food was, luckily I had it all covered up. Also, you don’t want them to have to sit blindfolded for a long time.
• Tell them guidelines up front and keep reminding them – I told the teens from the start that they shouldn’t say what they think the food is and shouldn’t make any comments about it. This was something that I had to repeat often. The first round I had several kids yell what it was (I picked something easy so they all got it anyways) but after a few they mostly stopped discussing it except for the occasional yucks and yums.
• Give the answer right after – I found it best to tell the teens what they ate after they wrote it down. This forced the teens to be honest (there were a couple trying to peek at their peers papers) and it gave them a chance to talk about it and discuss if they liked or disliked it.
• Be specific – I bought several items that were flavored (Doritos, goldfish). I had the teens be as specific as possible. If they wrote Doritos but not the flavor they would get 1 point. If they guessed the flavor correctly that received an additional point.
• Schedule extra time – schedule extra time at the end of the program. Once it was over the teens asked if there was any food left over. I brought out what was left and they went to town eating, drinking soda and talking. They really enjoyed having that time at the end.
• Keep it simple – don’t go too crazy. They liked having some food items they could easily guess and were familiar with. It’s more about having fun than trying to stump them.