The doing of ethnographies of eating: writing, observing, and eating chip butties during ethnographic research in primary schools in England

Abstract

This paper explores the experience of researching food in schools. Food is personal. It is an ingested symbol of culture, family, tradition, ethnicity… What does this mean as a researcher? How do we navigate food relationships? How is this relationship shaped by the rules of the school? This paper examines how I went about doing food research in primary schools, and the various incidents that occurred that revealed food was something more than that consumed. It outlines the ethnographic approach adopted, paying attention to the sensory in research. I explore researcher identity, explaining how my own identity was multiple, and shifting, depending on where I was at a particular “food moment”. I draw attention to several events that, on reflection, serve to reveal the importance of food in everyday life, and helped understand both the field site, and the wider context of the research.

Keywords:

• Food research
• school food
• ethnography
• reflexivity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 European Conference on Educational Research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lexi Earl

Lexi Earl is the Outreach and Engagement Manager for the Future Food Beacon at the University of Nottingham. Previously, she was a Research Fellow on the Tracking Arts Learning and Engagement project, in partnership with Tate and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is the author of Schools and Food Education in the 21st Century.