Search

Drawing on a recent doctoral research project that examined the everyday life perspectives during kindergarten mealtime, this paper discusses the methodological issues related to the concepts of child and adult perspectives during mealtime, and to the children’s participation in research. Through the paper, we take part in a critical discussion of the dichotomization of child and adult perspectives (Lee, 2001; Spyrou, 2011; Wyness, 2013). Instead, we suggest to approach perspectives as something that is created through situated interactions between human and nonhuman elements. We argue that perspectives could be studied as constructed from a net of human, material, and discursive elements. In doing so, we also question children’s participation in research as a source for production of knowledge that is more authentic than that produced by adults (Gallacher & Gallagher, 2008; Lomax, 2012). Hence, the kindergarten mealtime will provide the arena for discussing methodological issues that are relevant beyond studies on food and meals.International Research in Early Childhood Education, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 33–48

Interest in local foods is growing, but there has been limited research on who and why producers of local foods thrive or struggle. A particularly important problem for local food producers is how to reach end consumers, as they often find it difficult to work with the retail chains that dominate sales of food products (and vice versa) and therefore have to develop alternative marketing channels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the practices of different small and medium-sized Danish producers of locally grown and/or processed foods in relation to developing marketing channels for their products.

One of the fastest growing food related social movements are citizen driven food networks. The Danish initiatives emerged in Copenhagen from an open culinary, social, environmental and organic oriented network. The theories and strategies of the original initiative is presented in this paper, together with an analysis of how this has evolved and expanded. The challenges this rapid expansion puts on the internal network and organisation, and on the local food supplieres - the organic farmers - are elaborated in this paper. Also – from a rural sociology perspective – the interaction and communication between the citizen-consumer and the farmer are presented and analyzed.

Økologi er i de senere år kommet på dagsordenen i forhold til offentlige indkøb, særligt i forhold til mad i institutioner og skoler. I mad til vuggestuer og børnehaver er økologi allerede udbredt, mens økologisk skolemad særligt findes i hovedstadsområdet. Således ses et voksende ønske om økologi i offentlig bespisning til børn og unge. Imidlertid indebærer indføringen af økologiske fødevarer i institutioner en række udfordringer, som typisk er knyttet til de vanskeligheder, der er forbundet med at omstille et køkken fra konventionelle råvarer til økologiske råvarer. Vanskelighederne kan f.eks. omhandle omstilling til årstidens grøntsager på baggrund af et ønske om at reducere mængden af kød i menuerne, nye menuer, nye rutiner – alt kan ikke fås i de samme pakninger og halvfabrikata som det konventionelle hvorfor der kræves en lidt anden håndtering mm. (Mikkelsen et al). En særlig problemstilling i denne forbindelse er knyttet til leverancerne af de økologiske fødevarer, og herunder kommunernes håndtering af indkøbene. Nedenstående er baseret på interview indsamlet i forsknings-projektet iPOPY.

This report is a mapping of the activities within public procurement of organic food for youth in Denmark, with a special focus on school meals. In Denmark, it is voluntary whether local municipalities or schools arrange school meals or not. Until lately this was also the situation for meals in daycare institutions, but in 2008 a new legislation made it mandatory for the municipalities to offer a lunch meal in all daycare institutions, though this is still mainly financed by user charge. This change in legislation received much public attention, and has been heavily debated. School meals in Denmark were first introduced around 1900 as a social project for children in poverty, and have since been undergoing many changes. In the 1930‟s the warm meal was replaced by a cold lunch. During the 1970‟s free meals for malnourished children was gradually replaced by food stalls, selling milk, bread and fruit. Until the beginning of the 2000‟s such food stalls were widely spread, and in the 1980‟s and 1990‟s it was very common that pupils were responsible for running the stalls, receiving the profit for class excursions etc. In recent years a public and political debate about school meals has again aroused, mainly arguing that the food stalls is often offering a very unhealthy selection of food, and also pointing to the fact that many pupils bring unhealthy lunch from home or from nearby shops. Hence the argument that the public should help to ensure a healthy lunch for the pupils is again beginning to manifest, though there is no consensus on how this should be done and to what extent this should be funded by the public. Over time, more and more schools or municipalities choose to establish school meal systems, but these vary extensively in the way they are organized, what kind of food is served, and how they are financed. This report includes an overall mapping of the different ways of organizing school meals and their dissemination. Organic food has also been increasingly debated in relation to public procurement for children and youth, mainly in relation to meals in daycare institutions. Organic food is used in some school meal systems especially in municipalities inspired by Agenda 21, such as the municipalities in the Green Cities cooperation, but also other municipalities such as Esbjerg, Gladsaxe and Roskilde emphasize organic food. Whether the subject of organic food is discussed and implemented depends on the local values, goals, resources and politics. Hence there are municipalities and institutions with no organic food at all, while others have an organic share of more than 90 %. This is particularly in the municipalities situated in the Greater Copenhagen area. The municipalities in the Green cities cooperation have an average share of 59 % organic in all public procurement. The number is even higher when looking exclusively at public procurement for children and youth. These cases are briefly described in the report, along with a short mapping of other municipalities using organic food in meals for daycare institutions or schools. The report was produced in the iPOPY project, “innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth”. Similar reports have been produced for the other iPOPY countries; Norway, Finland and Italy.

I rapporten beskrives tre forældrebetalte skolemadsordninger, der blev etableret med støtte fra FødevareErhverv i 2008. Rapporten indeholder også resultater fra en spørgeskemaundersøgelse foretaget blandt elever og forældre i en 4. og 8. klasse på de tre caseskoler. Rapporten er en del af evalueringen ”EVIUS”, der blev gennemført i 2008-2009. Rapporten skal ses i sammenhæng med hovedrapporten fra delprojekt 4 (Brinck, Kristensen & Hansen 2010).

Denne rapport præsenterer resultaterne af de undersøgelser, der er gennemført i delprojekt 4 i EVIUS evalueringen. Fokus i dette delprojekt er forankringen af skolemadsordningerne. Af undersøgelsen fremgår det, at støtteordningen har virket bedst på skoler, hvor skolelederen har inddraget elever, frivillige ældre eller skolemadsleverandøren i de praktiske opgaver med udlevering af maden. Sidst i rapporten er opstillet en række anbefalinger til skoler, som ønsker at etablere madordninger og til det politiske niveau, såfremt det ønskes at stimulere indførelsen af skolemad fremover. Anbefalingerne er centreret om at sikre et bedre ejerskab omkring madordningerne samt sikre at madordningerne i højere grad implementeres som en integreret del af skolens organisation.

Globalization has an overall effect on eating cultures and food production, which calls for new professionals. This growing complexity in the food sector has triggered the introduction of the master in ”Foodscapes”. The master programme addresses the societies need for competencies that combine knowledge on sustainability and health with user demands in relation to food production and consumption. This paper outlines the visions and ideas in the term Foodscapes and touches upon the challenges in combining different professions into a new context. The interdisciplinary approach is seen as a unique new way of combining professions, which traditionally are build on different scientific paradigms and cultures. When focusing on Foodscapes these different paradigms are lifted into a new place with a common goal of giving the students new competencies in the food context. The aim is to combine scientific traditions from which students will develop competencies to act in the complex world of food to the benefit of sustainability. Ability to recognize, decode and reorganize new meanings is seen as key factors in studying Foodscapes. The user perspective is very central in the Foodscapes approach and students with interest in orchestrating future user demands of a sustainable food sector can build competencies to meet these challenges. The context surrounding food, eating and food production influence both meal experiences and the degree of healthy and sustainable actions. By studies in formal and non-formal learning - the contexts in which food interactions take place - analyzing, developing and problem solving is seen to emanate in innovative ways. These abilities combined with co-creation approaches are believed to create more sustainable solutions. Keywords: Foodscapes, sustainability, challenges, competence, interdisciplinary

Økologi er i kraft af en særlig historisk baggrund, som modbevægelse til hovedstrømmens fødevareproduktion, genstand for mange eksplicitte værdimæssige fortolkninger. Dette kommer især til udtryk i landbrugsproduktionen, og i mindre grad i forhold til forarbejdning af økologiske fødevarer. Motivationen for undersøgelsen ligger i en problematisering af en uoverensstemmelse mellem de forventninger, der er knyttet til økologiske produkter, sammenholdt med, hvad de regulerings- og lovgivningsmæssige realiteter er på forarbejdningsområdet. Den teoretiske basis for undersøgelsen er en kombination af nyinstitutionel teori, aktør-netværksteori og anvendelsen af et begreb om relevanszoner. Meningsdannelse og enactment er to centrale begreber, som anvendes til at forstå virksomhedernes fortolkning af - og handlinger i forhold til den økologiske produktion. Undersøgelsen er baseret på kvalitative interviews i 5 danske forarbejdningsvirksomheder, alle med en vis økologisk produktion. Undersøgelsen viser mangfoldige meningsdannelser relateret til økologi. De tre mindre og de to større virksomheder udviser visse fællesstræk på nogle områder. Ingen af de deltagende har aktivt arbejdet for at gøre den eksisterende lovgivning mere værdibaseret, og det konkluderes, at der er behov for forskeren som igangsætter af en refleksionsproces i virksomhederne, hvis de selv skal spille en rolle i en sådan udvikling.

Based on national reports from Denmark, Finland, Italy and Norway, describing the school meal systems and to which extent organic food is integrated there, this report identifies differences between the four countries and experiences made with organic food procurement and the dissemination of organic ingredients in school meals. Such knowledge will help to understand the possibilities and restrictions for increasing organic food in school meal systems, and to reveal the room of manoeuvre for public organic food procurement for youth in each country. In the report, similarities and differences of the national school meal systems in general are first discussed, because this context determines the scope of organic food procurement. The history and current situation of the school meal systems, framework conditions of public food procurement in schools (laws, guidelines, control, financing), the structure of the school meal provision and public discourses about school meals are described. Next, focus is set on the use and development of organic food in school meal systems. Some school meal system cases are presented by the amount of organic food used, the arguments for organic school food and challenges and barriers for the dissemination of organic food. Finally, school meal system actors in general as well as “organic” actors such as promoters, decision makers, companies and organisations are compared across the four countries. Summarizing chapters are found at the end of each section of the report. In short, warm meals are served for free to all pupils daily in Finland, and subsidized according to family income to all pupils at least twice a week in Italy. Norway and Denmark stick to a packed lunch brought from home, with additional milk and fruit subscription schemes and a developing additional or complementary meal service especially in Denmark with subsidized prices. Organic food is much emphasised in Italy and Denmark; significantly less in Finland and Norway.

The paper is part of the proceedings of an iPOPY seminar. The authors reflect on whether and how organic food in schools and kindergartens can be described as a part of an ecological modernization strategy in Denmark. They discuss how it has merged with more economically and technically approach in public catering policy.