Although there’s no scientific definition of picky eating, parents say they know it when they see it. Now a University of Illinois study shows that picky eaters do exhibit definable preferences and mealtime behaviors. Why is this important? “If we better understand the behaviors that parents associate with picky eating, we can develop specific recommendations targeted at those behaviors. Not all picky eaters are created equal,” said Sharon Donovan, a U of I professor of nutrition. The new study showed that kids deemed picky eaters by their parents did react differently to common foods and behaved differently at mealtime than kids whose parents said their kids weren’t choosy. The differences were significant and occurred across 16 assessed behaviors, according to U of I sensory scientist Soo-Yeun Lee.