Researching Children's Mealtimes

Offering a groundbreaking interdisciplinary guide, this book explores children’s eating practices through the lens of social interaction. It moves beyond individualistic perspectives to uncover the rich, everyday dynamics of mealtimes, where children’s eating is shaped by family, peers, and caregivers. Drawing on 25 years of research, the book provides a comprehensive framework for conducting interactional analyses of children’s eating practices in real-life settings.

Using video-recorded examples from family homes and preschool environments, it illustrates how ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, discursive psychology, and the language socialization approach can uncover the intricate interplay of food, language, and social behaviour. From infants’ first experiences with milk feeding to childrens’ evolving food preferences, the book examines key topics such as weaning, sensory tasting, food likes and dislikes, hunger and satiety, and food refusals. Each chapter combines theoretical insights with practical guidance, offering a rich synthesis of literature reviews, data examples, and suggestions for future research. The book equips readers with the analytical tools to study children’s eating practices and inspires interdisciplinary collaboration by bridging anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and sociology.

With its accessible yet rigorous approach, Researching Children’s Mealtimes is an essential resource for researchers and students across the social sciences. Whether you are a novice researcher or an experienced scholar, this book offers a unique contribution to the study of children’s eating practices and a vital tool for advancing research in this field.