Passive feeding or active learning in the kindergarten foodscape? Qualitative insights from the Dagmar intervention

The purpose of the study is to investigate the opportunities kindergartens have to create food practices that not only aim to satiate the children, but also make the food practice a learning arena that can increase children’s food literacy. The researchers evaluate the implementation of an intervention with the aim of developing and evaluating new ways of enabling the children to become food literate. The research questions are: 1) Do kindergartens have the potential to go beyond simple servings of food and instead become active spaces for food literacy? 2) What are the potentials of and barriers to such active development of food literacy?

The results show that the intervention succeeded in creating a new type of food landscape (foodscape) in kindergarten. The new foodscape combined serving food with both indoor and outdoor food activities for the children. Both the kindergarten teachers and the kitchen staff were important agents of change in the kindergarten’s foodscape. The study identified two key areas of action: the social practices around lunch and snacks, and educational food activities that were based on a practical approach and learning through action.

The study investigates how an intervention to change food practices was implemented in a Danish kindergarten. The data material consists of observations of meals and focus group interviews with kindergarten teachers and kitchen staff in the kindergarten. The researchers used an action research approach where the data collected along the way became part of the further development of the intervention.

Mikkelsen, B. E. (2020). “Passive feeding or active learning in the kindergarten foodscape? Qualitative insights from the Dagmar intervention”. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 26(1):1-25.