Constructing the Kindergarten Food "Island" under Compressed Modernisation: Norm and Behavioural Negotiations of Children's Food Gatekeepers in Changsha City, China

Food and meals in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings play a vital role in health promotion and sustainable development because they constitute a significant part of the children’s total diet and considerably influence their eating habits and preferences. This paper aims to find and identify traces of sustainability in food practices in a Norwegian kindergarten by analyzing each of the four dimensions of sustainability relevant to ECEC: ecological, economic, and social/cultural sustainability, and good governance. Primary data sources for this paper include interviews with kindergarten staff, supplemented with non-participatory observation during mealtime. By looking into how this kindergarten integrated sustainability thinking into their practices and organizational structures—from designing a menu to managing a meal and incorporating children’s voices in the process—this study shows that purposefully designed food provision may promote sustainability in ECEC. In addition, it draws our attention to how the kindergarten environment can serve as an arena for children to act as change agents for sustainable food practices in kindergarten settings and beyond. 

This paper discusses mealtime in Danish kindergartens as sites for contested understandings of food, bodies, and care, in an everyday life perspective. Two contesting perspectives on …

With this article, we shed light on processes of subjectivation and on the transmissions of cultural and social knowledge that take place during food events in school. Our starting point is an allegedly very simple question: What happens when children eat at school? To address this topic, we further ask how food events are handled by teachers and children, what rules and norms are established, how these rules and norms are acted out and what this all means with respect to processes of subjectivation. We investigate these questions by taking a look at the very beginning of the educational biography of Swiss children—in the kindergarten. There, we explore the snack time, a special food event. Our latest research project has confirmed that eating situations in kindergarten are meaningful and that eating Accepted: 6 December 2020

… In conclusion, this article, by highlighting a series of food and food-related occasions in a kindergarten setting, takes up the recommendations of Mennell et al. (1992:115) to study the “…

BackgroundEnteric outbreaks associated with child care centres (CCC) have been well documented internationally and in Canada. The current literature focuses on identifying potential risk factors for introduction and transmission of enteric disease, but does not examine why these risk factors happen, how the risk is understood and managed by the staff of CCCs, or what challenges they experience responding to enteric illness. The purpose of this study was to explore the understanding, knowledge and actions of CCC staff regarding enteric illness and outbreaks, and to identify challenges that staff encounter while managing them.MethodsFocus groups were conducted with staff of regulated CCCs in Southern Ontario. Five focus groups were held with 40 participants. An open ended style of interviewing was used. Data were analyzed using content analysis.ResultsCCC staff play an important role in preventing and managing enteric illness. Staff used in-depth knowledge of the children, the centre and their personal experiences to assist in making decisions related to enteric illness. The decisions and actions may differ from guidance provided by public health officials, particularly when faced with challenges related to time, money, staffing and parents.ConclusionCCC staff relied on experience and judgment in coordination with public health information to assist decision-making in the management of enteric illness and outbreaks. Advice and guidance from public health officials to CCC staff needs to be consistent yet flexible so that it may be adapted in a variety of situations and meet regulatory and public health requirements.

ISSUE ADDRESSED Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are ideal environments to optimise nutrition and positively influence children's food behaviours. However, recent research has identified the need to improve nutrition policies, food provision, and mealtime environments in Australian ECEC settings. This study explored the perceptions of ECEC directors regarding barriers and enablers to a health-promoting food environment within ECEC services. METHODS Eleven directors from ECEC services in Nerang, Queensland, and surrounding areas, participated in qualitative interviews between March and May 2021. Transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis that followed a deductive-inductive approach employing nutrition-related domains from the Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool, these being: (1) nutrition policy; (2) nutrition education; (3) food provision; and (4) mealtimes. Transcripts were coded independently by two researchers in NVivo and consensus for barriers and enablers was achieved through discussion. RESULTS Barriers and enablers were reported across four domains (nutrition policy, nutrition education, food provision, and mealtimes). Comprehensive nutrition-related policies were an enabler to a healthy nutrition environment but were sometimes described as lacking detail or customisation to the service. Nutrition education for children was described as competing with other activities for time and resources in an already-crowded curriculum. Financial and time pressures faced by families were a barrier to healthy food provision in services where families provided food for children. The ability of staff to sit with children and engage in conversation during mealtimes was an enabler; however, competing demands on time and the unavailability of food for staff were cited as barriers to health-promoting mealtimes. CONCLUSIONS Directors in ECEC services report both barriers and enablers to a healthy food environment. Nutrition policies were an enabler when comprehensive and relevant but a barrier when vague and not tailored to the service environment. ECEC services should be supported to develop and implement service-specific nutrition policies and practices by engaging with parents and staff. SO WHAT?: The barriers and enablers reported in this study should be considered when designing and implementing future evidence-based interventions to improve the nutrition environment in ECEC services.

… contact, assessment of food quality and food procurement … the food procurement system for kindergartens. The article also … Playing the role of a gatekeeper, relevant information for …

Food connects people, and can significantly impact the physical, social and emotional development of young children. Food sharing and family-style mealtimes can support healthy eating practices and psychological well-being among young children, and carersother than family members, such as Early Childhood Education and Care staff, play an important role in the provision of these practices. Despite increasing numbers of Australian children attending Early Childhood Education and Care services, there is often reluctance among staff to promote such mealtime practices, to the detriment of children’s social and emotional development. The aim of this paper was to focus on the potential role of Early Childhood Education and Care services in facilitating food sharing and family-style mealtime practices in the earliest stages of the lifespan. A qualitative, netnographic approach was used, and data was collected as part of the broader ’Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare’ (SNAC) study, via online conversation threads, observations and qualitative interviews. Findings demonstrated that whilst many Early Childhood Education and Care services are committed to supporting food sharing and family-style mealtime practices, a number of barriers were reported. These included the perception that babies and toddlers could not participate in these practices, concerns about food hygiene and cross contamination of allergens, and negative parental influences on food sharing. In conclusion, this paper supports the practice of food sharing in Early Childhood Education and Care settings and calls for them to become embedded in everyday operations to support the physical, social and emotional development of Australia’s future generations.

… , and other skills to prepare for kindergarten and beyond. They also spend considerable … exercised authority by acting as gatekeepers of specific foods at every meal by refusing to open …

We suggest that social factors are key to explain the missing link between food insecurity and obesity in children. Parents and public institutions are children's nutritional gatekeepers. They protect children from food insecurity by trimming down their consumption or by institutional support. To gauge children's food insecurity, evaluations across the different nutritional gatekeepers need to be integrated.

… The dyads were chosen by the kindergartens and we had … The children in kindergartens and subsequently families at … (not throwing food, respecting the parent as gatekeepers in the …

… -consuming countries in Asia since undergoing compressed food modernisation; and China, with … I argue that this indifference stems from Asia’s compressed food modernity. As the 20th …

This introductory chapter to the edited volume Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam puts food in Vietnam in global perspective in terms of agricultural development, food system modernisation, and socio-cultural relations, and conceptually outlines food anxiety as the book’s common lens. This lens proves central for understanding the ‘dangerous’ side of food as material matter and symbolic meaning. ‘Food anxiety’ uncovers the politico-economic context and the socio-cultural embeddedness of eating and the struggles of urban consumers and food producers with ambivalences around the security and quality of food, their bodily integrity and identity. From the perspective of critical development studies, this chapter opens up the following discussions around power and the inclusive and exclusive nature of food globalisations in local contexts.

… This study provided an overview of the diet quality of local preschool children, their eating behavioural patterns, parents’ feeding practices, as well as their schools’ nutrition environment…

Almost one-third of preschoolers spend regular time in child care centers where they can consume the majority of their daily dietary intake. The child care setting influences children’s dietary intake. Thus, it is important to examine factors, such as local and state regulations, that influence the food environment at the center. This qualitative study explored directors’ perceptions of how regulations influence the foods available at child care centers. Ten directors of centers in Travis County, Texas completed semi-structured interviews. Directors reported that changes in local health department regulations (e.g., kitchen specifications) result in less-healthful foods being served (e.g., more prepackaged foods). Directors of centers that do not participate in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) said the state licensing regulations clarify the portion size and nutritional requirements for preschoolers thereby improving the nutritional quality of the food served. Directors of centers participating in CACFP said they are not affected by state mandates, because the CACFP regulations are more stringent. These findings suggest that state regulations that specify and quantify nutritional standards may beneficially impact preschoolers’ diets. However, local health department regulations enacted to improve food safety may negatively influence the nutritional value of food served in centers.

… meal programs. Based on our observations, we argue that discretion and negotiation are complementary institutional … The negotiations that take place between school management …

School meals make significant contributions to healthy dietary behaviour, at a time when eating habits and food preferences are being formed. We provide an overview of the approaches to the provision, regulation, and improvement of preschool and primary school meals in the UK, Sweden, and Australia, three countries which vary in their degree of centralisation and regulation of school meals. Sweden has a centralised approach; all children receive free meals, and a pedagogical approach to meals is encouraged. Legislation demands that meals are nutritious. The UK system is varied and decentralised. Meals in most primary schools are regulated by food-based standards, but preschool-specific meal standards only exist in Scotland. The UK uses food groups (starchy foods, fruit and vegetables, proteins and dairy) in a healthy plate approach. Australian States and Territories all employ guidelines for school canteen food, predominantly using a “traffic light” approach outlining recommended and discouraged foods; however, most children bring food from home and are not covered by this guidance. The preschool standards state that food provided should be nutritious. We find that action is often lacking in the preschool years, and suggest that consistent policies, strong incentives for compliance, systematic monitoring, and an acknowledgement of the broader school eating environment (including home provided food) would be beneficial.

Establishing dietary food habits in the early years is crucial. Kindergarten is a significant public health arena that can foster healthy eating habits regardless of socioeconomic status. In Norway, 93.4% of children aged 1–5 years attend kindergarten, and since most of their daily food intake is in kindergarten, it is important to make healthy food available. National guidelines on food and meals in kindergartens encourage kindergartens to engage in food and meal practices that promote health, well-being, development, and learning. Despite the guidelines, food and meal practices in kindergartens are highly varied, and implementation of the guidelines is lacking. To understand the challenges in implementing the guidelines, we conducted semi-structured interviews with sixteen staff representing sixteen kindergartens throughout Norway. Both public and private kindergartens were included. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and content analysis was performed. The analysis identified three primary themes reflecting staff perceptions of challenges in implementing the national guidelines: priority and structural work with food and meals, pedagogical approach to food and meals, and external expectations and social pressure regarding food and meals. The themes were seen in light of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research in the discussion. While external conditions, including municipal prioritization, external expectations, and social pressure, play significant roles, our findings suggest that the most substantial influences on implementation are internal factors, particularly leadership and individual factors. • The availability of healthy food in kindergartens is essential for promoting a healthy diet to children. • National guidelines for food and meals in kindergartens aim to promote health, well-being, development, and learning. • Despite these guidelines, food and meal practices vary significantly, indicating potential shortcomings in guideline implementation. • Interviews with kindergarten staff across Norway highlighted challenges in implementing these guidelines. • The study identified priority and structural work regarding food and meals, pedagogical approach to the meal, and external expectations and social pressure as key factors influencing the implementation of food and meal guidelines, with leadership and individual factors being the most influencing. • The availability of healthy food in kindergartens is essential for promoting a healthy diet to children. • National guidelines for food and meals in kindergartens aim to promote health, well-being, development, and learning. • Despite these guidelines, food and meal practices vary significantly, indicating potential shortcomings in guideline implementation. • Interviews with kindergarten staff across Norway highlighted challenges in implementing these guidelines. • The study identified priority and structural work regarding food and meals, pedagogical approach to the meal, and external expectations and social pressure as key factors influencing the implementation of food and meal guidelines, with leadership and individual factors being the most influencing.

OBJECTIVE Identify factors perceived to influence implementation of healthy eating policy, systems, and environmental strategies (PSEs) in child care settings serving low-income children. DESIGN This mixed-methods study, conducted in 2015-2016, used semi-structured interviews (n = 18), focus groups (n = 23), and an expert panel. PARTICIPANTS Public health (n = 11) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education practitioners (n = 9) and community residents (n = 174) from 9 counties in Ohio. Expert panelists (n = 10) had experience implementing PSEs in child care settings. PHENOMENON OF INTEREST Implementation factors influencing healthy eating PSEs in child care settings. ANALYSIS Qualitative thematic analysis of 41 transcripts using a grounded theory approach. Indicators for each theme were operationalized. Consensus feedback from an expert panel weighted themes and indicators based on perceived importance for implementation. RESULTS Identified themes relevant to implementation of PSEs included (1) organizational and practitioner capacity, (2) child care capacity, (3) networks and relationships, and (4) community resources and motivations. Nineteen indicators related to the 4 themes were identified and weighted. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Findings highlighted key factors within domains of influence and informed the operationalization of the indicators and the development of an assessment tool. The assessment tool is designed to tailor PSE implementation to the realities of different child care settings.

Background Although children’s intake of fruit and vegetables has seen a recent rise, almost half of adolescents do not eat even one piece of fruit or vegetables per day. One way to address this problem is through interventions that provide fruit and vegetables directly to children in kindergartens and schools. For such interventions to meet their intended goals, what is important to consider in addition to impact is implementation. Our objective is to systematically review qualitative results reporting on the determinants (barriers and facilitators) to implementation of interventions that entail direct provision of fruit and vegetables in kindergarten and school settings and conduct a framework analysis of those results using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Methods A systematic search was designed and run in November 2019 for: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), PsychINFO (Ovid), ERIC (Ovid), Cochrane Library Reviews and Cochrane Library Trials. A keyword search of the journal Implementation Science was completed. Screening of titles and abstracts ( n  = 5427) and full texts ( n  = 227), led to 14 included articles. Coding and analysis were done using the framework method and CFIR. Results The following CFIR constructs were found relevant: 1) intervention characteristics domain: ‘design quality and packaging’, ‘adaptability’ ‘cost’; 2) outer setting: ‘cosmopolitanism’, ‘external policy and incentives’ ‘patients’ needs and resources’; 3) inner setting: ‘implementation climate’, ‘readiness for implementation’ and ‘structural characteristics’; 4) characteristics of individuals : ‘individual stage of change’, ‘knowledge and beliefs about the intervention’ 5) process: ‘engaging’, ‘executing’ and ‘reflecting and evaluating’. The review stresses the dual role of parents as both supporting the implementation and targets of the intervention, which could have implications for the design and implementation of future fruit and vegetables interventions. Positive child perceptions of the value of the intervention and perceived behavior change due to the intervention were reported as relevant facilitators to implementation across several studies, and should be taken into consideration in future design efforts. Conclusions CFIR offers a systematic way to identify and organize barriers and facilitators to implementation of interventions in the kindergarten and school setting. Revisions are encouraged to allow adequate space for perceptions of various implementation actors and the target group. PROSPERO registration CRD42020167697.

… been clarified, the development of sociological reflections on eating and food will be impeded. … the circumstances under which the sociological gaze falls on food and eating practices. …

… My purpose in this review is to explore sweet eating in particular. One reason for this is that sweet eating appears to be on the increase. The National Food Survey (CitationDepartment …