Objective: This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the relationships between food preferences, food neophobia, and children's characteristics among a population-based sample of preschoolers. Design: A parent-report questionnaire. Setting: Child-care centers, kindergartens, playgroups, day nurseries, and swimming centers. Subjects: 371 two- to five-year-old Australian children. Outcome Measures: Associations between food neophobia and the food preferences and characteristics. Analysis: Analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, Pearson product-moment correlations, and Fisher z test were used to estimate and compare the associations between these variables. Results: Food neophobia was associated with reduced preferences for all food groups, but especially for vegetables (r = -0.60; P less than 0.001). It was also associated with liking fewer food types (r = -0.55; P less than 0.001), disliking more food types (r = 0.42; P less than 0.001), the number of untried food types (r = 0.25; P less than 0.001), a less varied range of food preferences (r = -0.59; P less than 0.001), and less healthful food preferences overall (r = -0.55; P less than 0.001). No significant relationships (P less than 0.01) were observed between food neophobia and a child's age, sex, or history of breast-feeding. Conclusions: The study confirms and extends results obtained in experimental research and population-based intake studies of food neophobia to children's everyday food preferences. The findings suggest that preschool children's everyday food preferences are strongly associated with food neophobia but not with children's age, sex, or history of breast-feeding. When aiming to influence children's food preferences, the effects of food neophobia and strategies to reduce it should be considered.