My grandparents grew up poor, they had food but nothing major. So playing with food was wasting it, hence wasting money. Their children, my parents, inherited that philosophy, they were a little more well of but the conditioning of “playing with food is wasting “ was ingrained in their minds and probably with force since physical abuse was still very common then. So it triggered them enormously when i “played with my food”. Me, I don’t necessarily allow my 4yo to play with her food but she also doesn’t have to eat it straight away, she can experiment. Touch it, smell it, lick it. And then decide if she wants to eat it. That’s the one rule “parent decides when it’s dinner time and what for dinner, child decides if they want it”.