Lena Jonsson

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.

Food processing: barriers to, or opportunities for, organic foods in the catering sector?

Purpose – The aim of this article is to examine whether food processing is a limitation when using organic potatoes and tubers and to suggest which catering category is most likely to purchase processed organic products.Design/methodology/approach – A nationwide questionnaire was distributed by post to 808 Swedish catering managers in five categories: commercial restaurants, fast food restaurants, school canteens, day care centres, and homes for the elderly. The results were analysed on the basis of size and category.Findings – The demand for processed organic potatoes and tubers differs between sizes and categories, and various catering units require different types of processing. Catering units in the public food sector also face a dilemma in terms of rationalised production systems and the ideological concerns about organic foods.Research limitations/implications – Further studies on ideological concerns and rationalised production systems are required.Originality/value – The paper shows that product d...

Children and Taste: Guiding Foodservice

Taste has been neglected in science, and school foodservice suffers from huge amounts of food waste when children do not eat what is served. This article highlights the importance of taste in terms of childrens food preferences, and the awareness of this fact has been recognized while working with children as co-researchers. The children formulated research questions themselves, chose research methods, gathered information, and analyzed and presented results. In this way, taste developed as the most important aspect of food for them. It is suggested to not just let them be a panel, but also to let children participate from the very beginning in planning school foodservice.