The Role of Food Selection in Swedish Home Economics: The Educational Visions and Cultural Meaning

Abstract

This article explores foods talked about and chosen in the education of Swedish Home Economics as a relationship between structural processes and agency. Three data sets from observations and focus group interviews with teachers and students were analyzed for food classifications. These were related to a culinary triangle of contradictions, showing factors of identity, convenience and responsibility. Results show that foods talked about and chosen by teachers and students were reflections of dominant cultural values. Results also indicate that teachers had more agency than students, but that the choices they made were framed by educational visions and cultural values.

KEYWORDS:

• agency
• culinary triangle
• education
• home economics
• social constructionism
• structuralism

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Uppsala Hushållsskolas Fond and Lundellska Fondstiftelsen, who made work on the present article possible. They also extend appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions on a previous version of this article.