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Schooling Lunch: Health, Food, and the Pedagogicalization of the Lunch Box

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Abstract

In this chapter we explore various school lunch policies and practices in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. We make the argument that contemporary lunchtime policies are guided by a desire to regulate and control consumption as well as to transmit particular ideological values around food and notions of what constitutes (un)healthy food choices. We consider the cultural, sociopolitical, and economic forces that render these surveillance and regulatory practices commonsensical. Our findings suggest that there are some common anxieties around consumption, health, and obesity that may be driving these kinds of transnational ‘lunching’ policies and pedagogies. While such campaigns, resources, and pedagogies are intended to be beneficial, they actually produce some troubling effects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In New Zealand, Pākehā is a common Māori word to describe immigrants to New Zealand of European descent.

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Pluim, C., Powell, D., Leahy, D. (2018). Schooling Lunch: Health, Food, and the Pedagogicalization of the Lunch Box. In: Rice, S., Rud, A. (eds) Educational Dimensions of School Lunch. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72517-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72517-8_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72516-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72517-8

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