Exploring Foodscapes at a Danish Public School

How Emotional Spaces Influence Students’ Eating Practices

Bibliographic Data

ID12799889
AuthorsMette Kirstine Tørslev (0000-0002-6186-6241, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author), Marie Norredam (0000-0002-0899-317X, University of Copenhagen), K Vitus (0000-0003-1102-2742, University of Copenhagen)
Year2017
Volume20
Issue4
Pages587-607
Publication date2017-09-05
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFood Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1552-8014 • E-ISSN: 1751-7443
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15528014.2017.1357946
OpenAlexW2726399572
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited39

Promoting healthy eating among children has high priority in Nordic countries but remains complex. With the purpose of contributing knowledge to inform efforts to promote healthy eating environments in schools, this article explores how children feel and reflect about eating at school and seeks to nuance understandings of how food and eating are situated in school life. The article draws on ethnographic studies carried out at a Danish public sports school following two classes from fifth to seventh grades (age 11–14). By adopting a practice perspective and the analytical concepts of foodscapes and emotional spaces, the article analyses how emotions (affects and feelings), discourses, materialities, and social relations within the school interact. The findings show that many students find eating at school unpleasant. Students want to eat in an un-stressful place away from the gaze of others. They want to eat in “a safe space”, which is difficult to find at school. Students’ accounts reveal how eating at school, intersected by the transitional life-phase of youth, is affected by normativity, control and (self-)discipline, which shape and constrain their eating habits. The article points to the importance of addressing the emotional dimensions of eating in efforts to promote school health

Danish · Children's Rights and Participation · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Educational Environments and Student Outcomes · Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub