Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the paper draws on conceptions of culinary capital and socialisation to explore children's experiences of mealtime in one academy school. In this paper, the author argues how 'healthy eating' interventions have led to the neglect of the social significance of dining together. The paper highlights how children's…

This paper presents ethnographic work conducted to investigate how notions of culinary capital have the potential to shape the everyday experiences of children during mealtime in school. Children's early experiences with mealtimes and food are critical determinants for eating behaviour over the life course. The paper presents an account of…

The National School Lunch Program provides nutritious and inexpensive lunches, but low participation and food waste are challenges in many schools. Interventions aim to improve participation in the program, but little is known about how students' perceptions affect their participation. This study explored how middle school students in a rural…

Aim: This study aims to evaluate the impact of a novel multicomponent nutrition education program (United for Healthier Kids; U4HK) on the diet consumed during school lunch among preschool children. Methods: The program comprised four tools: hero plates, hero content, hero menus, and hero books and stickers. The program was implemented for 16…

Purpose/Objectives: Food discarded in school meal programs diminishes opportunities to nourish students and intensifies waste management burdens. Whole fruit waste poses problems in elementary school cafeterias in particular. Offering self-serve sliced fruits in bulk may increase the amount consumed and decrease food waste on a school level. This…

Background: The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs reduce food insecurity and improve dietary intake. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school meals were provided to all children at no cost, regardless of income. This policy is known as Healthy School Meals For All (HSMFA). The purpose of the study was to examine the feasibility of a…

Inappropriate behaviors often occur in non-classroom settings, such as lunchrooms, due to the increased volume of students with fewer supervising adults. As such, there is a need for effective and efficient behavior management interventions that can be implemented in these environments. To address frequent disruptions in an urban elementary…

This paper presents the findings of a multi-site case study focused on the role of mid-day supervisors in English primary schools. Ethnographic approaches were employed to gain an understanding of the role and how this is experienced by those who undertake it. This included a fully participatory phase where the researcher inhabited the role of a…

Excessive plate waste is generated in elementary school cafeterias. Adapting nutrition promotion strategies to target waste reduction and encouraging mindful and sustainable eating (MSE) are possible strategies to encourage students to reduce waste during school lunch. "Farm to Tray, Tray to Farm" is a 16-week intervention that aims to…

Purpose/Objectives: This paper describes the results from a Smarter Lunchroom program designed to evaluate if bundling fruit or vegetable strategies listed on the Smarter Lunchroom Scorecard increased selection of fruits and vegetables by students in school cafeterias from 2015 to 2017. Methods: Twenty-one Michigan State University (MSU) Extension…

In Sweden, pupils eat tax-funded school lunches, often in the company of teachers. This article focuses on Swedish compulsory school grade (ages 7-15) teachers' (n = 823) perceptions of the school lunch in terms of intentions and daily practice. Analysis was based on written answers for an open-ended question that was part of a questionnaire…

Fruit and vegetable intake for children in the United States is low, which puts them at risk for poor health in the future. The National School Lunch Program meal pattern and nutrition standards for participating schools include increased fruits and vegetables, compared to previous standards. Using a pretest-posttest design, this study examined…

Purpose/Objectives: Research on incentivizing consumption of fruits and vegetables (F/V) has been and continues to be conducted in school lunchrooms. This study examined the use of stickers and toys to nudge F/V selection and consumption among students in grades 1 through 5. The study was conducted in two low-income elementary schools in West…

Background: We gathered baseline data about student need of healthy, free school food, and if current school meal programming serves students in need of healthy free school food, in anticipation of the completion of a district-wide kitchen infrastructure and educational farm project in a high-poverty urban school district. Methods: We used mixed…

This paper examines the discourse on school meals, as evidence suggests that political agendas feed into policy making. The paper fills a void by proposing new insights into how school meals could be reformed, following reflections from a doctoral study and a review of the changing narrative on school food in England. Recommendations include…