University of British Columbia Press
Small Bites
Biocultural Dimension of Children’s Food and Nutrition
9780774866897
9780774866880
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Small Bites
Biocultural Dimension of Children’s Food and Nutrition
Presents an anthropological and biocultural approach to child nutrition.
Picky eating. Obesity. Malnutrition. Small Bites challenges preconceptions about the biological basis of children’s eating habits, gendered and parent-focused responsibility, and the notion of naturally determined children’s foods. Tina Moffat draws on extensive anthropological research to explore the biological and sociocultural determinants of child nutrition and feeding. Are children naturally picky eaters? How can school meal programs help to address food insecurity and malnutrition? How has the industrial food system commodified children’s food and shaped children’s bodies? Small Bites investigates how children are fed in school and at home in Nepal, France, Japan, Canada, and the United States to reveal the ways child nutrition reflects broader cultural approaches to childhood and food. This important work also sets a course for food policy, schools, communities, and caregivers to improve children’s food and nutrition equitably and sustainably.
Picky eating. Obesity. Malnutrition. Small Bites challenges preconceptions about the biological basis of children’s eating habits, gendered and parent-focused responsibility, and the notion of naturally determined children’s foods. Tina Moffat draws on extensive anthropological research to explore the biological and sociocultural determinants of child nutrition and feeding. Are children naturally picky eaters? How can school meal programs help to address food insecurity and malnutrition? How has the industrial food system commodified children’s food and shaped children’s bodies? Small Bites investigates how children are fed in school and at home in Nepal, France, Japan, Canada, and the United States to reveal the ways child nutrition reflects broader cultural approaches to childhood and food. This important work also sets a course for food policy, schools, communities, and caregivers to improve children’s food and nutrition equitably and sustainably.
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Introduction
1 Baby Steps: Prenatal, Infant, and Young Child Feeding
2 Biocultural Variation in Child Feeding and Eating
3 Children’s Food in the Age of the Industrial Diet
4 It Takes a Village: School Feeding Programs
5 Global Malnutrition and Children’s Food (In)Security
6 Childhood Obesity: A Twenty-First Century Nutritional Dilemma
7 New Directions in Children’s Food and Nutrition
References; Notes; Index
Introduction
1 Baby Steps: Prenatal, Infant, and Young Child Feeding
2 Biocultural Variation in Child Feeding and Eating
3 Children’s Food in the Age of the Industrial Diet
4 It Takes a Village: School Feeding Programs
5 Global Malnutrition and Children’s Food (In)Security
6 Childhood Obesity: A Twenty-First Century Nutritional Dilemma
7 New Directions in Children’s Food and Nutrition
References; Notes; Index