‘If they don't eat it, it's not a proper meal’: Images of risk and choice in fathers' accounts of family food practices

Abstract

Food practices and parenting practices are currently the object of sustained public debate, in connection with health risks. This article discusses findings from a qualitative study of fathers' involvement in shopping, preparing and consuming food for or with their children. Perspectives from and about fathers have been somewhat marginal to previous research on food and health; this article examines the ways fathers conceptualised risk and risk management in connection with food practices. Interviews with fathers in three contrasting English neighbourhoods reflected some well-established, gendered patterns: while all fathers described themselves as contributing to some aspects of ‘foodwork’, a minority took the main responsibility or an equal share. However, almost all saw some form of participation as an important part of a fathering role. Accounts did reflect specific discourses about risk, health and childhood. First, most fathers viewed children as entitled to personal food preferences, drawing on notions of individual choice, ‘modern’ childhood and the democratised family; accounts of shopping and eating routines emphasised choice and negotiation as fundamental to ‘healthy’ emotional development. Second, a concern to ensure that children ate enough was more common than concerns with food as healthy or safe. Fathers were aware of current advice about food and health, but balanced this with personal notions of well-being and sociability, including their view of themselves as empathic and approachable. These findings suggest that gendered patterns in parental identities are changing but remain prominent, in relation to risk management and health.

Keywords:

• parenting
• public health
• risk
• risk perception
• food

Notes

1. The Changing Families, Changing Food research programme was funded by the Leverhulme Trust from 2005–2008. The research described in this article was subject to full ethical review through University of Sheffield committee procedures, including anonymous peer review.