Identifying eating habits in multicultural schools through focus groups with children

Abstract

Nutrition or eating habits are not only a biological necessity, but also a social and cultural activity, strongly influenced by peer groups. People make eating an activity that transcends the purely physiological facet, and transform it into a social event (Benarroch, 2013). When choosing foods to eat, a number of factors are taken into account, for example, availability. This may be influenced by the economy, climate, geography, agricultural production techniques, politics, communication infrastructures, etc. Furthermore, given that eating is a physiological, social and cultural event, other factors will also have an influence, some of them related to physiological needs (e.g., age, sex, etc.), and others related to sociocultural and ideological factors, including traditions, taboos and beliefs, cross-cultural influences, religious convictions, etc. What we eat, our diet as a whole and what we do not eat, i.e., dietary requirements, dislikes or taboos, are indicators of identity and reveal membership of a particular sociocultural group.