With dual-working households now the norm, Food, Families and Work is the first comprehensive study to explore how families negotiate everyday food practices in the context of paid employment. As the working hours of British parents are among the highest in Europe, the United Kingdom provides a key case study for investigating the relationship between parental employment and family food practices. Focusing on issues such as the gender division of foodwork, the impact of family income on diet, family meals, and the power children wield over the food they eat, the book offers a longitudinal view of family routines. It explores how the everyday meanings of food change as children grow older and negotiate changes in their own lives and those of their family members. Drawing on extensive quantitative data from large-scale surveys of food and diet – as well as qualitative evidence – to emphasise the larger global context of social and economic change and shifting patterns of family life, Rebecca O'Connell and Julia Brannen present a holistic overview of food practices within busy contemporary family lives. Featuring perspectives from both parents and children, this innovative approach to some of the most hotly-debated topics in food studies is a must-read for students and scholars in food studies, sociology, anthropology, nutrition and public health.

Food is fundamental to health and social participation, yet food poverty has increased in the global North. Adopting a realist ontology and taking a comparative case approach, Families and Food in Hard Times addresses the global problem of economic retrenchment and how those most affected are those with the least resources. Based on research carried out with low-income families with children aged 11-15, this timely book examines food poverty in the UK, Portugal and Norway in the decade following the 2008 financial crisis. It examines the resources to which families have access in relation to public policies, local institutions and kinship and friendship networks, and how they intersect. Through ‘thick description’ of families’ everyday lives, it explores the ways in which low income impacts upon practices of household food provisioning, the types of formal and informal support on which families draw to get by, the provision and role of school meals in children’s lives, and the constraints upon families’ social participation involving food. Providing extensive and intensive knowledge concerning the conditions and experiences of low-income parents as they endeavour to feed their families, as well as children’s perspectives of food and eating in the context of low income, the book also draws on the European social science literature on food and families to shed light on the causes and consequences of food poverty in austerity Europe.

Winner, 2020 Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award, given by the Children and Youth Section of the American Sociological Association Winner, 2020 Early-Career Book Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education How Latinx kids and their undocumented parents struggle in the informal street food economy Street food markets have become wildly popular in Los Angeles—and behind the scenes, Latinx children have been instrumental in making these small informal businesses grow. In Kids at Work, Emir Estrada shines a light on the surprising labor of these young workers, providing the first ethnography on the participation of Latinx children in street vending. Drawing on dozens of interviews with children and their undocumented parents, as well as three years spent on the streets shadowing families at work, Estrada brings attention to the unique set of hardships Latinx youth experience in this occupation. She also highlights how these hardships can serve to cement family bonds, develop empathy towards parents, encourage hard work, and support children—and their parents—in their efforts to make a living together in the United States. Kids at Work provides a compassionate, up-close portrait of Latinx children, detailing the complexities and nuances of family relations when children help generate income for the household as they peddle the streets of LA alongside their immigrant parents.

This book examines the many roles of families in their members’ food access, preferences, and consumption. It provides an overview of factors – from micro- to macro-levels – that have been linked to food insecurity and discusses policy approaches to reducing food insecurity and hunger. In addition, it addresses the links between food insecurity and overweight and obesity. The book describes changes in the U.S. food environment that may explain increases in obesity during recent decades. It explores relationships between parenting practices and the development of eating behaviors in children, highlighting the importance of family mealtimes in healthful eating. The volume provides an overview of efforts to prevent or reduce obesity in children, with attention to minority populations and discusses research findings on targets for obesity prevention, including a focus on fathers as change agents who play a crucial, yet understudied, role in food parenting. The book acknowledges that with the current obesigenic environment in the United States and elsewhere around the world, additional and innovative efforts are needed to foster healthful eating behavior and orientations toward food in childhood and in families. This book is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, public health as well as numerous interrelated disciplines, including sociology, demography, social work, prevention science, educational policy, political science, and economics.

"Women, food and families" looks at how women with young families plan, provide, cook and serve food, from daily meals to special occasions. The authors interviewed women from a range of social backgrounds and the result is an account of the role played by food in relationships between women and men, parents and children within contemporary British families. It also reveals the contradictory and often problematic nature of women's own feelings towards food. The authors document the differential distribution of food within families along lines of gender and age and show that social class has a significant impact on diet. They illustrate the way in which practices surrounding food provision both reflect and create social divisions and that food conveys complex messages about power and status, love and anger, inclusion and exclusion.

What's for dinner? Not just in America, but around the world? And how is it cooked, what's the historical significance of that food, how is it served and consumed, and who gets to clean up? This book provides fascinating insight into how dinner is defined in countries around the world. Almost universally, "dinner" is a key meal in most countries around the world, whether it be a simple dish of rice and beans, a slice of pizza on the go, or a multi-course formal meal. What do the specifics of how a meal is eaten-by hand instead of with utensils, for example-say about a specific culture? This fascinating one-volume reference guide examines all aspects of dinner in international settings, enabling insightful cross-cultural comparisons and an understanding of the effects of modernization and globalization on food habits. Some 50 countries are covered in chapters focusing on present-day meal habits in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North and South America. The commentary covers everything about the meal, such as the time, the cooking and preparation, shopping for ingredients, the clean-up process, gender-based participation roles, conversation or other social interactions, and etiquette-just about everything that happens at the table. The book is ideal for classroom teaching and learning, as the entries and photos are conducive to teaching students about other cultures, directly supporting the National Geography Standards. Students will be able to make informed comparisons between their own lives and the various cultural experiences described in the book.

As the busy mother of five young children, Kelly Rudnicki faced a daily challenge when it came to feeding her family. Things got even more complicated when one of her sons was diagnosed with severe food allergies. Launching the Food Allergy Mama website, she struck a chord with parents and home cooks in similar situations and made it her mission to prove that allergen-free meals can be easy and flavorful. Showcasing the very best of Rudnicki's repertoire, The Food Allergy Mama's Easy, Fast Family Meals makes it simple to please a hungry crowd. Rudnicki purposely tests her recipes on friends and neighbors who don't have food allergies just to make sure her cooking tastes like "regular" cuisine. The result is a bounty of delicious offerings, including: Morning Glory Muffins Breakfast Burritos Creamy Tomato Soup Hearty Pasta Featuring Grandma Jeanne's Bolognese Sauce Oatmeal Fudge Bars All recipes are made without milk, butter, cheese, eggs, or nuts. She also includes time-saving tips, and ideas for inexpensive ingredient substitutions, including tofu and applesauce. Menu ideas and holiday celebrations make this book the most comprehensive guide of its kind-a one-stop resource for allergen-free, worry-free home cooking every day of the week.