Secondary students and tertiary dietetics and health education students rated their Favourite and Most Disliked foods on 35 seven-point rating scales. The resulting data were subjected to a series of factor analyses which indicated little difference between the students' conceptions of their Favourite and Most Disliked foods. The main factors were named: "Fattening-poor aspects', "Healthy aspects', "Appeal', "Simplicity-convenience', "Hardness-crunchiness'. Discriminant analyses of the factor scores indicated significant differences in the ways students of different ages, and from different ethnic and educational backgrounds, construed the foods. The results are discussed in relation to adolescent development, and a social motivation model of food choice is proposed.