The “meal dictatorship” or: What should children (be allowed to) eat in day care centers and primary schools?
- 27.02.2024
- English Articles
- Ute Bender
Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 29 August 2023 / revision accepted: 20 November 2023
Initial situation and research questions
Meals at day care centers and all-day schools are the responsibility of the providers of the respective institutions and the preparation and delivery is often outsourced to caterers. Local authorities, as school providers, subsidize the meals financially, so that parents or guardians do not have to pay for the entire meal, but a more or less high personal contribution [1]. At day care centers, participation in lunch is usually provided for all-day children; at elementary school, participation is voluntary, with different registration and cancellation procedures being used in the municipalities. The German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung, DGE) has developed quality standards for the quality of the food, but compliance with these standards is voluntary for the providers [2, 3]. That the DGE standards are adhered to and that the adolescents take part in the lunch offered is in the interest of a nutritionally beneficial diet for children and adolescents [4].
The quality of lunch at day care centers and schools is repeatedly criticized, for example by pupils or from a nutritional science perspective [5, 6]. The DGE quality standards for day care centers and schools provide for both a meat/ fish menu and a lacto-ovo-vegetarian menu. According to the EsKiMo II study of children and young people on eating habits, 1.4% of children (6–10 years) and 5% of young people (11–17 years) eat a vegetarian diet [7]. ...
Abstract
The article refers to a selected excerpt of a discourse on the exclusive offer of a meat- and fish-free lunch at day care centers and elementary schools in the city of Freiburg in autumn 2022. In the run-up to the corresponding decision of the municipal council, a lively media discussion arose. The analysis shows several strands of discourse and points to different values. These include the value of pleasure (hedonism) and the value of children's autonomy. In this article, these values are discussed against a (nutritional) educational and political background.
