Abstract:
Food literacy is a concept that has been heavily theorized however there has been less attention given to what it ‘looks’ like in practice. It is a term that has been adopted by practitioners and scholars working in a range of sectors that share an interest in food and nutrition. As a result the questioning of food literacy has emerged as a topic of research in and of itself.
This paper reports on federally funded research currently being undertaken with schools in the Canadian school district of Vancouver since 2018. It builds on food literacy work with children and youth since 2010. Using the three dimensions of critical food literacy, this research is working to identify a range of practices that build the capacity of young people to be food literate and to understand food as a social practice. Emerging data from this research demonstrates different foci and activities that support operational food literacy and offers possibilities for appreciating why the cultural and critical aspects of food literacy are under-represented.
This paper reports on federally funded research currently being undertaken with schools in the Canadian school district of Vancouver since 2018. It builds on food literacy work with children and youth since 2010. Using the three dimensions of critical food literacy, this research is working to identify a range of practices that build the capacity of young people to be food literate and to understand food as a social practice. Emerging data from this research demonstrates different foci and activities that support operational food literacy and offers possibilities for appreciating why the cultural and critical aspects of food literacy are under-represented.