What do mealtimes and food mean in early childhood programs?

               Food preparation facilities should be available on the
               premises and nutritional and culturally appropriate food
               should be provided. -Quality target 33. Quality targets
               in services for young children, European Commission Childcare
               Network, 1996 (the full list of 40 targets have been
               re-published with permission as a CRRU BRIEFing NOTE ).

A great deal of food education occurs early in life. Eating is not just about providing necessary energy for daily activities but is a social activity and a socializing process. Along with nutritional and language opportunities, children
practice social and other skills, develop table manners, attitudes towards food, self-esteem, independence and learn cultural norms. As described by Ochs and Shohet (2006), mealtimes are “cultural sites for the socialization of persons into competent and appropriate members of society”.

This broad approach to mealtime in child care has been referred to as the “family-style meal”, “mealtime culture”, the “pedagogical meal” etc. These labels suggest a holistic approach and assign importance not only to eating but give the meal value as a social situation with a strong identity and a precise structure. Thus, the “before”, the “after” and the actual lunch or meal with the child at the centre are all important. The food too is important from a number of perspectives including nutritional value and cultural content.

In some early childhood centres, participating in cooking, setting the table, serving, discussing, eating and clearing up the shared meal occur in a convivial, comfortable and communal environment and are all parts of the program’s learning and social opportunities. In other settings, children’s meals come in individual lunchboxes or ready-prepared, are eaten in a chaotic or negative atmosphere or nutritional value may be compromised.

In Canada, many young children participate in child care outside the home. Therefore, children engage in eating practices outside the home so preschool tables are often significant sites for learning. Mealtime is recognized in all
provincial/territorial child care regulations but the regulations may or may not require that the child care program provide meals. Most of the emphasis is on nutrition.

The information in this Issue File focuses on Canadian child care food policies and the significance of mealtime practices including those outside the nutritional and language development realm. It is hoped that the information provided will create reflective discussion around evaluation of the policy and practice of mealtimes in child care in Canada.

This Issue File has four sections:

- Issue of Children in Europe on meals and food in early childhood programs (An appetite for life, 2006)
- Legislated requirements for food/meals in regulated child care programs in Canada
- Documents available online
- Documents not available online, abstracts provided

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This list in not intended to be an exhaustive examination of this topic; for a more comprehensive list, search the Childcare Resource and Research Unit resource library catalogue Childcare Information Resource Collection (CIRC).