Validation of a picture book to be used in a pan-European dietary survey.

Objective: To validate a picture book for estimation of food portion sizes using two approaches: (i) 'perception' of food portions by comparison with a series of food photos; and (ii) 'conceptualization and memory', using the same photos to estimate the amount of served food one hour after self-served food portions.

Design: Each partner developed a country-specific picture book based on the so-called EPIC-Soft picture book. Representative and common photo series were chosen achieving approximately 25 % of the original picture book (n 23).