School meals and the start of secondary school

The article draws on empirical data from a study of children'shealth in the context of children's transition to secondaryschool. It focuses upon the school food practices of childrenin the context of changes which have occurred in recent yearswithin the UK secondary school meals service, i.e. a move from‘meal provision’ via Local Education Authoritiesto the individualized, commercial system of ‘food choice’.The study draws upon: (1) extensive data from a questionnairesurvey (N = 536) with children which was conducted in threestate secondary schools in West London containing a high proportionof ethnic minority (Asian origin) children; and (2) intensivecase study data from a subsample of 31 households, drawn fromthe survey according to the following criteria: mothers' employmentstatus (full-time and non-employed), sex of child, householdcomposition (single mother and two parent households) and ethnicorigin of parents (UK origin and Asian origin). The childrenand their mothers and fathers were separately interviewed. Drawingon both the quantitative and qualitative data, the article describesthe school as a site of food consumption and identifies differentkinds of food practices of children in their first year of secondaryschool which are mediated by a variety of factors. These include:the sex of the child, household resources via parental employment,the decisions and choices of children themselves, and the strategiesthat parents (mothers) employ to control their children's diet.The option available to children to make choices about foodemerges as an attractive and novel feature of moving to secondaryschool, but one that may have consequences for children's healthbecause of the mode of food supply and the nature of the foodon offer.