Engaging Children with Nutrition Literacy and Gamification to Foster a Positive Relationship with Food
It has always been difficult for parents to encourage their kids to eat healthily, but what if that difficulty could be turned into an opportunity? A mother who found it difficult to encourage her daughter to eat healthily, Malvina De Salvo, the CEO and Founder of Plateful, turned that difficulty into a goal. She developed the ground-breaking platform Plateful, which combines behavioral science, smart technology, and gamified learning to make mealtimes entertaining and instructive.
Plateful empowers kids to make healthier food choices on their own by teaching them the value of eating well, rather than merely keeping an eye on what they eat. The company is transforming children’s interactions with food through Malvina’s vision, influencing their eating habits for years to come.
Let’s learn how Malvina’s innovative solution is helping kids build healthy eating habits for life!
A Personal Journey of Discovery and Inspiration
Malvina’s personal experience as a mother negotiating the challenges of child nutrition served as the inspiration for the creation of Plateful. Her quest started with the straightforward goal of assisting her kid in making the switch to solid foods. But what at first glance appeared to be a simple task soon became a frustrating fight. Medical advice at the time favored quick fixes—processed foods high in calories—to help her daughter gain weight, despite her best efforts. Her daughter’s weight was stabilized by these foods, but they also influenced her tastes, making it challenging to later reintroduce nutritious, whole foods.
Malvina De Salvo realized that traditional mealtime strategies weren’t working. She recalls, “Months of processed meals had shaped her preferences, and no traditional strategies—songs, games, videos—could reverse it.” It was through a combination of education and real-time engagement that she began to see a shift in her daughter’s eating habits. She started teaching her daughter about food in a way that was fun and relatable, using simple language to explain where food comes from and how it nourishes the body. “Concepts like ‘protein builds muscles for climbing the monkey bars’ or ‘antioxidants protect our bodies like superheroes’ resonated deeply,” she reflects. This approach not only sparked her daughter’s curiosity but also made eating nutritious foods a more enjoyable experience.
It was through this personal discovery that Malvina De Salvo recognized a fundamental truth: children are capable of understanding and valuing nutrition when it is presented in an engaging and accessible way. This realization would go on to inspire the creation of Plateful. What began as a solution for one child blossomed into a mission to transform mealtime experiences for families everywhere.
Recognizing a Widespread Problem
The more Malvina De Salvo talked to other parents, the more she realized she wasn’t alone in her struggles. “I did what many new mothers do: I turned to other parents, hoping for advice or solutions,” she shares. But instead of finding individual experiences, she discovered a much larger, shared problem. Mealtime battles, anxiety about nutrition, and the constant challenge of catering to picky eaters were common concerns among many families.
The statistics she uncovered only underscored the severity of the issue. According to research, “One in two parents consider their child a picky eater. Seventy-seven percent of parents cite mealtime as a major source of household stress. And only one in ten children meet the daily recommended intake for fruits and vegetables.” These numbers painted a vivid picture of the challenges families face, highlighting a clear need for a solution that could bridge the gap between children’s food preferences and their nutritional needs.
For her, these findings became the tipping point that fueled her desire to develop Plateful. “The more I researched, the clearer the problem became,” she notes. She saw an opportunity to use her personal experience and newfound knowledge to create a solution that would address this widespread issue in a meaningful way. With her vision in mind, she set out to build the first prototype of Plateful, a technology-driven platform that could combine education, real-time feedback, and gamification to make healthy eating an enjoyable and sustainable experience for children.
A Unique Solution in the Children’s Nutrition Space
What sets the company apart from other solutions in the children’s nutrition space is its innovative use of real-time, reactive technology. While there are many tools available to monitor eating habits, Plateful is the first to actively engage children during mealtimes. The SMART plate is equipped with onboard sensors, LED lighting, and audio capabilities that track what children eat and respond accordingly. When vegetables or other nutrient-dense foods are left untouched, the plate reacts by providing instant, positive reinforcement and gamified feedback to encourage better choices.
“Our SMART plate actively monitors mealtime behavior—recognizing when vegetables or other nutrient-dense foods are left untouched—and responds instantly with positive reinforcement and gamified feedback,” she explains. This real-time engagement is key to the platform’s success. By using technology to provide immediate feedback, Plateful not only encourages children to eat more healthily but also creates an interactive learning experience that supports long-term behavioral change.
The accompanying app takes this experience even further, offering animated learning modules that teach children about the lifecycle of food—from seed to plate to body system. The app also features quizzes that reward children with virtual coins for correct answers, unlocking in-app experiences as they progress. “We are building a platform that doesn’t just monitor what children eat—it empowers them to develop a lifelong positive relationship with food,” she shares.
Balancing Science and Cultural Sensitivity
As a product rooted in childhood nutrition, ensuring Plateful’s approach is scientifically sound and culturally sensitive is paramount. “Our development process began with a thorough review of the scientific literature, including published white papers on children’s food selection, food preference studies, and research on parental feeding practices,” she explains. The company’s design and content are based on evidence-based best practices recommended by child development experts, ensuring that every feature of the product is grounded in research.
But the science alone wasn’t enough. Cultural sensitivity was equally critical to the development of the platform. “Our diverse team—spanning multiple languages, countries of origin, faith backgrounds, and experiences as first-generation Americans—infuses global perspectives into everything we build,” she says. This inclusivity is reflected in Plateful’s design, particularly in the five-section model of the SMART plate, which allows for flexibility to accommodate different cultural food practices, such as incorporating dairy or yogurt.
The app’s personalization features also account for dietary restrictions, allowing parents to specify cultural, religious, or allergen-related preferences during onboarding. “Our app personalizes experiences: during onboarding, parents can indicate any dietary restrictions—cultural, religious, or allergen-related—allowing us to tailor recommendations and content appropriately,” she highlights. This thoughtful approach ensures that Plateful is not only scientifically rigorous but also accessible to families from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Overcoming Early Challenges
Bringing a product to market is never easy—even for a second-time founder. Before launching Plateful, Malvina De Salvo left a long and successful corporate career in healthcare to pursue entrepreneurship. Not quite sure how to invent something from scratch, she started by building an online retail business. She sold products through her own domain and as a third-party seller on Amazon and Walmart, eventually reaching the top 10% of Amazon sellers. “I figured if I ever wanted to invent something, I better know how to sell it,” she shares. This experience gave her a crash course in consumer behavior, product-market fit, and digital operations—laying a critical foundation for the entrepreneurial journey ahead.
Despite this prior experience, launching Plateful presented a whole new set of challenges. “I had no experience with prototyping or even awareness of resources like accelerators and incubators that support early-stage founders,” she admits. However, her determination led her to a women-led organization that offered a one-day workshop for aspiring entrepreneurs. This experience opened her eyes to the world of startup resources and opportunities, helping her take the first step toward bringing her vision to life.
Whether it was learning how to solder, code, or 3D print, Malvina De Salvo quickly became hands-on and resourceful. “Building Plateful wasn’t just about developing a product; it was about embracing a growth mindset and constantly expanding my own capabilities,” she reflects. The early days were filled with learning, experimenting, and adapting—but the spark that began with solving a personal challenge had grown into a scalable mission.
Innovation and Technology
At the core of Plateful is its groundbreaking use of technology to foster healthier eating habits. “Innovation and technology are at the heart of everything we do at Plateful,” Malvina De Salvo says. The SMART plate, equipped with onboard sensors, LED lights, and audio capabilities, actively engages children during mealtimes, providing real-time feedback to encourage healthier food choices. This technology is seamlessly integrated with an app that tracks progress, offers personalized recommendations, and provides valuable insights to parents.
What sets Plateful apart is its combination of artificial intelligence (AI) with behavioral science. The platform is not just reactive—it’s proactively helping families by using a one-of-a-kind dataset to understand and predict meal success. “We are building the first-of-its-kind SMART plate, fully equipped with advanced technology: an onboard computer, LED lighting, audio capabilities, weight sensors, and behavioral tracking systems,” she explains. This integration of real-time feedback, AI-driven insights, and evidence-based education allows Plateful to address one of the most crucial moments in a child’s development—their relationship with food—at a formative stage.
Through AI and the analysis of meal data, Plateful can predict which foods are more likely to be accepted by children, accelerating the process of food acceptance. This personalized approach is part of a larger vision to use data-driven methods to improve children’s eating habits and support lasting nutritional outcomes.
Evolving Leadership
As Plateful has grown, so too has Malvina’s leadership style. “In the early stages, particularly as a bootstrapped company, flexibility is paramount—everyone, including myself, must be willing to wear multiple hats,” she shares. In a startup, there is no room for rigid roles or micromanagement. Instead, she seeks team members who thrive in ambiguity and are willing to step into new challenges. “What I look for in team members is a deep passion for the technology, a strong sense of initiative, and the ability to take ownership of projects,” she explains.
For Malvina De Salvo, leadership is about empowering others to contribute to the vision. “I believe the true power of a startup lies in empowering others to contribute to the vision,” she says. This philosophy has fostered a culture of innovation and resilience at Plateful, helping the company navigate the challenges of growth while staying true to its mission.
Helping Families Build Healthy Habits
As it continues to grow, the impact of the product is becoming more and more apparent. One of the most rewarding aspects of the journey has been watching children engage with the learning modules and SMART plate. “The excitement they feel and the fact that many of them revisit the learning modules is a testament to the effectiveness of our design,” she says. This feedback reinforces the idea that Plateful is not just a tool—it’s an engaging, educational experience that resonates with children.
Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of its impact is its potential to help families establish healthy habits from a young age. “Ultimately, what excites me the most is our ability to help families build a foundation of nutrition literacy and establish healthy eating habits from a young age,” she says. By instilling healthy habits early, Plateful aims to prevent diet-related diseases and promote lifelong well-being.
Aligning Values and Vision
As a startup founder, building a team that aligns with the company’s vision and values is crucial. “Building a team that aligns with my vision and values starts with a foundation of honesty and integrity,” she explains. From the outset, she emphasizes transparency and open communication, ensuring that team members understand the challenges and opportunities ahead. This open-door policy encourages collaboration and creates an environment where everyone feels valued and involved.
During the bootstrapping phase, when financial resources were limited, Malvina De Salvo focused on making the experience rewarding in other ways. “By ensuring that our team members feel involved in something significant and impactful, we create an environment where their contributions feel valued,” she shares.
Trends in Childhood Nutrition and the Future of Plateful
Looking ahead to 2025, Malvina De Salvo sees several key trends shaping the future of childhood nutrition. “The biggest trends I’m seeing in the food and nutrition space—especially for children—are rooted in the growing recognition of nutrition security and the increasing shift toward viewing food as medicine,” she shares. This shift toward treating food as a tool for health is gaining momentum, and Malvina De Salvo is proud to be at the forefront of this movement.
At the same time, Malvina De Salvo is excited about the rise in focus on nutrition literacy, which is essential for helping families make informed food choices. “At Plateful, we’re working to empower children with the knowledge and habits they need to thrive nutritionally,” she says. Plateful is leading the way by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its platform. By using meal data and AI capabilities, Plateful personalizes the nutritional experience for each child, identifying patterns and predicting food preferences to shorten the timeline for food acceptance.
This data-driven approach not only supports informed decisions but also tailors nutrition plans to individual needs, ensuring children develop lifelong healthy eating habits. By teaching kids about food early on and engaging them in personalized, science-backed learning, Plateful aims to give them the tools they need to make healthy choices throughout their lives.
The Road Ahead
As it continues to grow and evolve, the company remains committed to its mission of transforming childhood nutrition. With its innovative technology, commitment to cultural sensitivity, and focus on education, Plateful is paving the way for a healthier future for children everywhere. Malvina’s vision is clear: to help families build lasting, positive relationships with food, empowering children to make informed choices that will support their health for years to come.
For anyone interested in learning more about Plateful or experiencing the platform firsthand, Malvina De Salvo invites you to reach out directly at mel@pl8ful.com. “I’m excited to share more about how we’re making healthy eating both fun and effective,” she concludes. As Plateful continues to innovate and expand, its mission remains the same: to create a healthier, more engaged generation of young eaters.
