Institutional spaces and sociable eating: young people, food and expressions of care

ABSTRACT

Young people’s social relationships are fostered, enacted and complicated by the discursive and constitutive spatial contexts in which they occur. The focus of our study was the ways the spaces of the school canteen – and the adjacent, external food environment – organised or complicated sociable eating practices for students. Drawing on qualitative data collected from young people aged 13–15 years and staff at secondary schools, we analyse reports of the challenges posed by the school canteen space to sociable eating practices and the importance of social relationships. The analysis highlights that young people found school canteens to be fundamentally ‘anti-social’ and schools do not adequately recognise or value the importance of building social skills during meal breaks. The data shows that, for young people, food is often a secondary concern to sociality and the expression of kinship and care through eating together at school. Young people therefore sought spaces outside school to socialise and eat together. When socio-economic deprivation was an issue within friendship groups, the importance of caring for others emerged through ensuring peers had adequate food to eat. This analysis highlights the critical relationship between food, sociability and expressions of care in the school food environment.

KEYWORDS:

• eating practices
• food
• care
• secondary schools
• sociable

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank colleagues with whom we discussed the design of this study and who assisted with collecting data. Particular thanks are extended to the participating schools and young people who took part.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 See, for example https://www.thecaterer.com/news/foodservice/school-dinners-and-the-jamie-oliver-effect

2 These data were drawn from the Food Environment Assessment Tool developed by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) at the University of Cambridge (2017). The FEAT tool was used to search for food retailers within the postcode area of each respective school, including takeaways, supermarkets, cafes, convenience stores, restaurants and specialty food outlets.

3 In 2017, the national average of secondary school students eligible for free school meals in the United Kingdom was 12.9%, as reported in the statistical report Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017.

4 Pupil Premium Funding is provided to schools each year as a grant from the Government’s Department for Education based on the number of students eligible for free school meals, to provide additional funding (£935 per child per annum, currently) to help schools address disadvantage across their student body.

5 In 2017, the national average of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students in state-funded secondary schools in the United Kingdom was 29.1%, as reported in the statistical report from the Department of Education, Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017 UK Department of Education (2017). National Statistics - Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017.

6 The data were obtained from the Index of Multiple Deprivation file included in the English Indices of Deprivation 2015.