Nordic Children's Foodscapes: Images and reflections

A study of the different food messages that children encounter and their own reflections of these messages was carried out among fifty-nine children from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.The children took photos of their "foodscapes," including school, home, shops, streets, cafés and restaurants.The themes were healthy and unhealthy food, everyday and festive food and their favorite food.The children were well aware of common understandings of healthy/unhealthy food.They labeled fruit, vegetables and fiber-rich foods as healthy and foods rich in sugar, fat and salt as unhealthy. Unhealthy eatables belonged to festive contexts, such as cozy evenings and birthday parties.The everyday food in school and at home was considered healthier, often consisting of well-composed meals including vegetables.The children's favorite foods belonged to both the healthy and unhealthy categories.The children also dealtwith the contradictions between everyday healthy food and unhealthy festive food, which involved adjusting to different social and spatial contexts.