From “Junk Food ” to “Treats”

Abstract

This paper explores how poverty and social inequality become institutionalized and embodied through food practices. Using qualitative data collected from four cities in the United States, this paper focuses on how low-income mothers make sense of family food provisioning in the age of intensive mothering expectations. The findings show that while low-income mothers aspire to provide their children high-quality diets in ways that are similar to their higher-income counterparts, poor mothers have to recalibrate their desired food choices according to the constraints of poverty. Findings from this paper further our understanding of how poverty shapes food behaviors and have practical implications for those working to improve the health of low-income populations.

Keywords:

• food behaviors
• SNAP
• poverty
• consumption
• mothering

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank: the mothers who graciously participated in the studies; Drs. Andrew Cherlin and Katherine Clegg Smith for their ongoing support and advisement; the CLF-Lerner Fellowship from the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future for funding the research, and the anonymous reviewers and Dr. Jennifer Smith Maguire for their thoughtful review and suggestions.

Notes

1. A pseudonym. All names of study participants have been altered to protect their identity

2. A soft drink packaged in barrel-shaped containers with many different colors and flavors.

3. A detailed description of the Three City Study can be found at http://www.jhu.edu/~welfare.