Small Bites: Biocultural Dimension of Children's Food and Nutrition

by Tina Moffat

Presents an anthropological and biocultural approach to child nutrition.

Picky eating. Obesity. Malnutrition. Small Bites challenges preconceptions about the biological basis of children’s eating habits, gendered and parent-focused responsibility, and the notion of naturally determined children’s foods. Tina Moffat draws on extensive anthropological research to explore the biological and sociocultural determinants of child nutrition and feeding. Are children naturally picky eaters? How can school meal programs help to address food insecurity and malnutrition? How has the industrial food system commodified children’s food and shaped children’s bodies? Small Bites investigates how children are fed in school and at home in Nepal, France, Japan, Canada, and the United States to reveal the ways child nutrition reflects broader cultural approaches to childhood and food. This important work also sets a course for food policy, schools, communities, and caregivers to improve children’s food and nutrition equitably and sustainably.
 

Genres: Nonfiction

230 pages, Hardcover

Published May 3, 2022

Reviews

[Tara O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small Bites: The Biocultural Dimensions of Children’s Nutrition is a thoroughly researched and incredibly nuanced examination of some of the most pressing issues concerning children’s nutrition such as infant feeding, childhood hunger, food insecurity, and obesity. As someone who doesn’t have a background in Anthropology, I was impressed at how well Moffat is able to explain complex anthropological concepts in a way that is understandable to the average person without losing the nuance of her arguments. She gives the reader a fascinating look at how attitudes around children’s eating differ across cultures and throughout history. Through her depth of research into other cultures, she helped me to question my own cultural biases around children’s eating, such as the idea that children are ‘naturally’ picky eaters rather than that idea being created partly through cultural attitudes around children.

Small Bites examines issues around children's nutrition by looking more closely into our industrial global food system and how it connects to larger social inequalities. Moffat’s insights into the issues with our global food system and the inequalities it produces give us ideas about how we can improve child nutrition and well-being as a society through solutions like basic income, high-quality school lunch programs, and the regulation of children's food advertising. She critiques how society directs individual blame and solutions toward people suffering from hunger or obesity, and how this framework is inadequate to actually address these issues. Small Bites also views issues through a feminist lens. Moffat critiques North America’s shame around breastfeeding, and how medical practitioners prioritize babies’ well-being over the mothers’ when it comes to breastfeeding. She also employs a feminist critique of children’s eating, such as how mothers are often solely blamed for their child's nutrition rather than larger society and the family unit as a whole.

I would absolutely recommend Small Bites to anyone who is interested in learning about social issues surrounding children’s nutrition, as it gives unique and insightful perspectives on some of the most pressing food and nutrition dilemmas in the 21st century.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly, incredibly readable! My favorite parts were (a) discussion of neophobia vs picky eating, (2) explanations for why SNAP and community food banks fail, and (3) exploration into successful school lunch programs.