Food Families And Work

With dual-working households now the norm, Food, Families and Work is the first comprehensive study to explore how families negotiate everyday food practices in the context of paid employment. As the working hours of British parents are among the highest in Europe, the United Kingdom provides a key case study for investigating the relationship between parental employment and family food practices. Focusing on issues such as the gender division of foodwork, the impact of family income on diet, family meals, and the power children wield over the food they eat, the book offers a longitudinal view of family routines. It explores how the everyday meanings of food change as children grow older and negotiate changes in their own lives and those of their family members. Drawing on extensive quantitative data from large-scale surveys of food and diet – as well as qualitative evidence – to emphasise the larger global context of social and economic change and shifting patterns of family life, Rebecca O'Connell and Julia Brannen present a holistic overview of food practices within busy contemporary family lives. Featuring perspectives from both parents and children, this innovative approach to some of the most hotly-debated topics in food studies is a must-read for students and scholars in food studies, sociology, anthropology, nutrition and public health.

Food is fundamental to health and social participation, yet food poverty has increased in the global North. Adopting a realist ontology and taking a comparative case approach, Families and Food in Hard Times addresses the global problem of economic retrenchment and how those most affected are those with the least resources. Based on research carried out with low-income families with children aged 11-15, this timely book examines food poverty in the UK, Portugal and Norway in the decade following the 2008 financial crisis. It examines the resources to which families have access in relation to public policies, local institutions and kinship and friendship networks, and how they intersect. Through ‘thick description’ of families’ everyday lives, it explores the ways in which low income impacts upon practices of household food provisioning, the types of formal and informal support on which families draw to get by, the provision and role of school meals in children’s lives, and the constraints upon families’ social participation involving food. Providing extensive and intensive knowledge concerning the conditions and experiences of low-income parents as they endeavour to feed their families, as well as children’s perspectives of food and eating in the context of low income, the book also draws on the European social science literature on food and families to shed light on the causes and consequences of food poverty in austerity Europe.

"Women, food and families" looks at how women with young families plan, provide, cook and serve food, from daily meals to special occasions. The authors interviewed women from a range of social backgrounds and the result is an account of the role played by food in relationships between women and men, parents and children within contemporary British families. It also reveals the contradictory and often problematic nature of women's own feelings towards food. The authors document the differential distribution of food within families along lines of gender and age and show that social class has a significant impact on diet. They illustrate the way in which practices surrounding food provision both reflect and create social divisions and that food conveys complex messages about power and status, love and anger, inclusion and exclusion.

An examination of food poverty in austerity-era Europe. Food is fundamental, yet food poverty has increased in the Global North. Adopting a comparative case approach, Food and Families in Hard Times addresses the global problem of economic retrenchment and the burden it places on the most vulnerable. This timely book examines food poverty in the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Norway following the 2008 financial crisis, examining the resources available to families in relation to the intersection of public policies, local institutions, and kinship networks. The book explores the ways that low income impacts household food provisioning, formal and informal support for struggling families, the provision and role of school meals, and constraints upon families' social participation. Drawing upon extensive and intensive knowledge on the conditions and experiences of low-income families, the book also draws upon current research in European social science literature to shed light on the causes and consequences of food poverty in austerity-era Europe.

Provides an overview of what families around the world eat by featuring portraits of thirty families from twenty-four countries with a week's supply of food.

This book synthesizes research about the effects of food insecurity on children, families, and households, emphasizing multiple pathways and variations across developmental contexts. It focuses on emerging new methods that allow for a more refined approach to practice and policy. The volume provides a brief overview of the topic, and additional empirical chapters pose and address unanswered research questions. It concludes with a short commentary, providing recommendations for future research and policy and yielding a significant and timely contribution to advance developmental scientific knowledge and promote its use to improve the lives of children and families. Featured areas of coverage include: The effects of early food insecurity on children’s academic and socio-emotional outcomes. The effects of household food insecurity on children with disabilities. Early childhood access to Women, Infants, and. Children (WIC) and school readiness. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and adolescent mental health. Food Insecurity in Families with Children is an essential resource for policy makers and related professionals as well as graduate students and researchers in developmental, clinical, and school psychology, child, youth and family policy, public health, and social work.

Reflecting a growing interest in consumption practices, and particularly relating to food, this cross disciplinary volume brings together diverse perspectives on our (often taken for granted) domestic mealtimes. By unpacking the meal as a set of practices - acquisition, appropriation, appreciation and disposal - it shows the role of the market in such processes by looking at how consumers make sense of marketplace discourses, whether this is how brand discourses influence shopping habits, or how consumers interact with the various spaces of the market. Revealing food consumption through both material and symbolic aspects, and the role that marketplace institutions, discourses and places play in shaping, perpetuating or transforming them, this holistic approach reveals how consumer practices of ‘the meal’, and the attendant meaning-making processes which surround them, are shaped. This wide-ranging collection will be of great interest to a wide range of scholars interested in marketing, consumer behaviour and food studies, as well as the sociology of both families and food.

What's for dinner? Not just in America, but around the world? And how is it cooked, what's the historical significance of that food, how is it served and consumed, and who gets to clean up? This book provides fascinating insight into how dinner is defined in countries around the world. Almost universally, "dinner" is a key meal in most countries around the world, whether it be a simple dish of rice and beans, a slice of pizza on the go, or a multi-course formal meal. What do the specifics of how a meal is eaten-by hand instead of with utensils, for example-say about a specific culture? This fascinating one-volume reference guide examines all aspects of dinner in international settings, enabling insightful cross-cultural comparisons and an understanding of the effects of modernization and globalization on food habits. Some 50 countries are covered in chapters focusing on present-day meal habits in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North and South America. The commentary covers everything about the meal, such as the time, the cooking and preparation, shopping for ingredients, the clean-up process, gender-based participation roles, conversation or other social interactions, and etiquette-just about everything that happens at the table. The book is ideal for classroom teaching and learning, as the entries and photos are conducive to teaching students about other cultures, directly supporting the National Geography Standards. Students will be able to make informed comparisons between their own lives and the various cultural experiences described in the book.