How childhood and food have shaped each other through history – and still do. What should children eat and why? How should they eat it and what should they learn about food? Answers to questions like these have differed over time. First Helpings explores the relationship between children and food in history, drawing on a rich variety of social records, cookery and etiquette books and children’s literature. Topics covered include breast versus bottle feeding, the difference between ‘adult’ and ‘children’s’ food and drink, table manners, school meals and learning to cook. Albon and Palmer discuss wider social issues, such as teaching children about the ethics of food choices, the role children have played in food production and the ever-present scandal of hungry children in society. First Helpings provides a unique look at childhood and eating that relates past to present and considers ways forward.
YES - it's my book - written with my friend and former colleague Deb! We are very proud of it. Available from all good bookshops and here from the publisher
https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/first-helpings
Bottles - Materials used for infant feeding bottles were varied. From the fifteenth century, wood or pressed leather were used. Pewter, tin and silver came to be used from the sixteenth century, and then from the eighteenth-century porcelain was also employed. Bottles came in different shapes. Those with long rubber hose attachments were popular in the nineteenth century, but were very unhygienic and dangerous to use. In the early twentieth century materials such as Pyrex were developed and banana- or boat-shaped bottles, then straight-sided bottles came to be the norm.
Camp Cooking – For much of the twentieth century, cookery lessons were seen as much more suitable for girls than boys. The scout movement, however, gave boys opportunities to learn how to cook, usually in the context of rugged outdoor experiences like camping. In a publication produced by the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects, Ailsa Yoxall claimed that ‘boy scouts in particular, often ask to be admitted to the [cookery] classes . . . in order to become a Scout of the first class’.
Cutlery – Crockery and cutlery and other food-related paraphernalia have been designed especially for children. They are supposed to be attractive, easy to use and ultimately conducive to learning how to eat ‘correctly’ at mealtimes. There are periodic panics about children’s lack of ability to use knives and forks
Eatwell Plate - the ‘Eatwell Plate’ (known as the ‘Eatwell Guide’ since March 2017) was developed by the UK’s Food Standard Agency in 2007. It comprises a simple pictorial representation indicating the amounts that should be eaten of the following food groups: fruit and vegetables; starchy carbohydrates such as rice and potatoes; dairy and alternatives; beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins; and oils and spreads that one is encouraged to eat over a day or week. It is important to note that it is not designed for children under two, who have different dietary requirements. Children from two to five should move gradually to eating the same food as adults.
Gardening – ‘Romantic’ educational philosophers, particularly Friedrich Froebel, advocated that children’s schooling should include hands-on practical experience as well as factual knowledge of plants and how to care for them. Through gardening, it was hoped that children would become responsible stewards of the environment with a keen sense of where their food came from. For some thinkers, a productive use of the food grown was important too: enjoying the food and sharing it with others was a key goal.
Sweets – When we think of ‘children’s food’, there are foodstuffs which we may not want any child to miss out on if eaten in moderation. Many would find it rather sad if a child had never enjoyed sweet treats, such as biscuits, cakes and sweets on a special occasion. Sweet items are a key element in celebrations cross-culturally be it mithai (a generic name for sweet treats) eaten during the festival of Diwali; baklava and maamoul during Eid; or Easter eggs. What we eat is not just about eating what’s ‘good for you’: special treats such as these connect us to treasured memories of times past and foster a sense of collective identity.
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