What’s good to eat? Moral economy of children’s food in Poland’s capital

Abstract

The heightened tensions around what children eat, that occur in many places of the world, signify a changing moral economy of children’s food. Together with food, many emotions and sentiments, as well as judgements and expectations, circulate among people and institutions. Particular food products become valued as good or bad because they are consumed by children. Children, and their mothers, are considered to be proper people because they eat specific food. This article identifies two processes that shaped the moral economy of children’s food in Poland: a shift from an economy of shortage to an economy of abundance during post-socialism, and an emphasis on healthism and healthy food during post-EU-accession. These changes shaped institutional approaches to and discourses on food, as well as people’s food practices, amplifying emotions around and tensions between different hierarchies of food values. And through processes of individualization and responsibilization they placed particular pressure on mothers. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Warsaw in 2012-13, and revisits conducted in 2018-19, the article connects public debates and large-scale politics to family foodways, showing how moral economy of food is enacted through adults and children’ daily practices.

Keywords:

• Mothers
• food
• children
• moral economy
• health

Acknowledgement

This article has been long in the making. Special thanks should go to all research participants who shared their time with me. I would like to thank the reviewers and editors who read and commented on different versions of this article. I am also thankful for the comments from my colleagues at the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology UAM. Moreover, the discussions within our informal food reading group were very helpful, special thanks to Barley Blyton, Katherine Cagat, Anna Colquhoun, Mukta Das, Jessica Fagin, Nora Faltmann and Francesca Vaghi, and also to Mateusz Halawa. For their continuous help and intellectual, as well as emotional support, I would like to thank Katharina Graf, Celia Plender, and Marcin Serafin.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The names of all of my interlocutors have been changed to retain their anonymity.

2 For an excellent analysis of how the ethical food discourse is enacted through the figure of an “organic child,” see Cairns, Johnston and MacKendrick (2013).

3 For more information on methodology see Boni (2016).

4 This applies also to the studies of anorexia nervosa (see e.g., Bordo 2008).

5 Pańska skórka is a homemade sweet treat, usually white and pink, resembling a fudge, made from egg whites, sugar, water and rose or raspberry juice. It is sold wrapped in small pieces of paper on the streets of Warsaw during the festivities, typically on All Saints Day.

6 By vitamin P she probably meant bioflavonoids.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Center in Poland (under two grants DEC-2012/07/N/HS3/04137 and 2016/20/S/HS3/00310).