Johanna Mäkelä, University of Helsinki - Food consciousness and the changing food culture of the children in the Nordic countries

www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto
Food sense and the changing food
culture of the children in the Nordic
countries/Matinsikt och barnens
föränderliga matkultur i Norden
Johanna Mäkelä, Department of Teacher Education
Food culture and food education strengthen the Nordic Brand
Nordisk matkultur och matfostran stärker nordisk branding
18 August 2016 Helsinki

• food work as a core of family life
• having children effects food habits and division of
labour at home
• family as a context for mediating and caring for food
culture
• food habits interpreted as signs of family life and
well-being
• a family eating together stays together… ideal is self-
cooked healthy ”home food” of domestic origin eaten
together
Food in everyday family life (1)

• socialization and education of children at the
table
• from helplessness to supercommitment
• convenience food and take-aways as a
solution
• decision making and division of labour
Food in everyday family life (2)

Growing into a food culture
• the importance of local food culture(s)
• home meals
• longing for and appreciating of family meals
• the strains of busy everyday life
• in Finland, there is respect for free of charge hot
school lunches despite criticism
• NB! different Nordic school lunch systems
• the crucial role of peers
• own family as a model (mothers!?)
• the changing expertise

The Finnish Food Pyramid 2014 (©
Valtion ravitsemusneuvottelukunta)

• healthy food
• unhealthy food
• favourite food
• differences in Nordic school lunch systems
• Johansson et al. 2009
Nordic Children’s Foodscapes

Omnomnom, food challenges
and social media

Tasting baby food
25.8.2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AqcYSHpPCU

Smoothie challenge
25.8.2016
Käyttäytymis-tieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi
/ Esityksen nimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26x6QmDT73k

Ruby teaching kids to cook #1
25.8.2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCxhX2miwgs
10

Bean Boozled Challenge: a Russian
roulette with candies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOrREIs2NhQ

Candies are sometimes really bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IehqVAFNQ2s

• knowledge, skills, adaptations, variations,
resistance
• what do adults want and what do children want?
• many roles and meanings of food and eating
• contextuality
• different food cultures
Contradictions?

The importance of
understanding childrens’
agency and participation
Janhonen, K. (2016) Adolescents’ Participation and Agency in
Food Education. Summary available online:
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/159380

Food sense
ruokataju/matinsikt
Janhonen, Kristiina, Mäkelä, Johanna & Palojoki, Päivi (2016)

• an understanding of cultural and social meanings that
relate to food and eating as local and global systems
• the opportunity of potentially acting against one’s
knowledge of a healthy and sustainable diet
• the notion of food sense aims to promote people’s
agency and empowerment, as well as joy and pleasure
attached to food
• knowledge in relation to food sense refers not only to
the ability to make nutritionally balanced choices, but
also to the ability to understand the complexities of the
surrounding world
• examining food related processes and choices as
collective rather than merely individual activities
Food sense (1)

• the term food sense aims at taking distance from the
individual and knowledge-based focus that has been
critiqued in reference to the concept food literacy
• the definition of food sense acknowledges the cultural,
social and societal dimensions of eating, the context- and
practice-bound aspects of food choices, as well as the
notion of sustainability according to its broad definition
• the core idea of food sense is to be able to make sense of
complex and wide-reaching subject areas that take root in
everyday practices, as well as to understand the relations
of one’s own choices to community and structural
surroundings
• we suggest the concept of food sense as a potential
platform for food education
Food sense (2)

Food sense: references
• Janhonen, Kristiina, Mäkelä, Johanna & Palojoki, Päivi
(2015). Perusopetuksen ruokakasvatus ravintotiedosta
ruokatajuun Teoksessa Luova ja vastuullinen
kotitalousopetus = Creative and responsible home
economics education. Janhonen-Abruquah, H. & Palojoki, P.
(toim.). Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto, Käyttäytymistieteellinen
tiedekunta, Kotitalous- ja käsityötieteiden julkaisuja; no. 38,
Opettajankoulutuslaitos, 107-120.
• Janhonen, Kristiina, Kauppinen, Eila, Mäkelä, Johanna &
Palojoki, Päivi (2016). Ruokataju on omakohtaista
ymmärrystä ruokavalinnoista. Kotitalous 79 (2), 30-31.
• Janhonen, K., Mäkelä, J. & Palojoki, P. (2016). Food
education: from normative models to promoting agency. In
Sumner, J. (ed.), Learning, food, and sustainability: sites for
resistance and change. Palgrave Macmillan, in press.

Thank you for your attention
johanna.m.makela@helsinki.fi

Johanna Mäkelä, University of Helsinki - Food consciousness and the changing food culture of the children in the Nordic countries

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Johanna Mäkelä, University of Helsinki - Food consciousness and the changing food culture of the children in the Nordic countries