Eva Ossiansson

Exploring children's foodscapes

In this article, we discuss childrens becoming as food consumers in the intersection of various foodscapes. We draw from a project, Children as co-researchers of foodscapes, where we have been working with children as co-researchers, using basically ethnographic methods, and as co-designers in a collaborative design effort. This article focuses on the findings from a theoretically inspired perspective, using the concept of foodscapes. These are food-related structures of different kinds, which evolve as the child explores them and where children as food consumers are generated. In this article, we highlight the scapes of taste, routines, people, things, commerce, child (as opposed to adult) and health and give brief accounts of the way the children related to them. Finally, we turn to the benefits of working with foodscapes for a better understanding of childrens becoming as food consumers in the intersection of various foodscapes. This article is based on data gathered by the children, but also on our fieldwork notes and observations following the children in their foodscapes.

Managing the everyday health puzzle in Swedish families with children.

In this article, issues of children, food, and health are discussed with the help of the concept of a “health puzzle,” which is defined as the many pieces of family life that need to be put together to reach the goal of a healthy family lifestyle. The data derives from a qualitative study, where parents and children in twelve Swedish families were interviewed at three occasions. The aim was to find out how the healthy life of the family is defined, created, and sustained. The healthy family showed to be composed of different practices and drew on values of bodily, emotional, and social well-being. The dilemmas mentioned concerned how to serve “proper food” and have “proper meals,” and making this fit into a tight time schedule. Solutions to the dilemmas were, for example, to prioritize spending time together; to promote healthy eating by having a weekly menu or a fruit bowl available; and to mark the contrast between weekdays and weekends with the help of “Cosy Friday,” “Saturday Sweets,” and an elaborate weekend dinner. Depending on the family economy, working hours, and the number of childrens leisure activities, the solutions were mainly dictated by either money or time.

Proper Food and a Tight Budget

Abstract Much attention has been devoted in recent years to issues of food and health in childhood. Being a parent today implies exposure to multiple discourses concerning food and health and how best to bring up ones child. In this study, parents from German and Swedish families with low socio-economic status took part in qualitative studies to examine issues of food in relation to health. The findings suggest that eating habits are influenced by a number of factors. In everyday food consumption, the ideal of proper, healthy food is challenged by time and financial restrains and by individual tastes. A comparison of confectionery versus fruit reveals that the consumption of these eatables is connected to different social contexts and to different sets of values. While there is a tendency to categorize certain groups as less responsible and more problematic, we argue that for the successful development of a health program it is crucial to start by considering structural factors and social inequality and then to take advantage of peoples own resources, and work for the active participation of those involved.