Sustainable sustenance in school: organic, seasonal and local food agendas stretch the public health debate

Orme, Judy; Jones, Mat; Salmon, Debra; Morgan, Kevin; Morley, Adrian

Abstract

In recent years food in school has become an emotive issue that has captured considerable public attention. School food appears to surface a wide range of contentious social issues that include the boundaries between public and private spheres, cultures of consumption and adult-child power relationships.

This paper explores expanding discursive arena of food in school in the context of the established public health concerns of balanced nutrition, dietary inequalities and obesity. In particular it focuses on agendas to promote organic, seasonal and local food through schools and efforts to encourage young people to cook ‘from scratch’.

The paper draws upon the early stages of the evaluation of the England-wide Food for Life Partnership initiative. This initiative brings together the moral frames of food as a public health issue, food as a sustainability issue and food as an issue for social cohesion. We examine how the initiative seeks to create a mandate for ‘healthy, social and sustainable foods’ amongst young populations and in multi-ethnic, urban and socially deprived school settings. In particular we explore the processes by which agents construct self-evidence or ‘plain truths’ for complex and contestable eating practices.

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: BSA Food Studies Group
• Start Date: Jul 25, 2009
• End Date: Jul 25, 2009
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2009
• Publication Date: Jul 15, 2009
• Deposit Date: Nov 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 11, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: schools, health promotion, diet, nutrition
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/994344
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : BSA Food Studies Group Annual Conference
• Contract Date: Nov 11, 2016