In Hungary around half of the 3–18 years old age group has regularly used school food
service. This paper focuses on the operation and social embeddedness of school canteens
and the at-home eating habits of the families involved. The sources I have used are
the findings of my interdisciplinary research group. Ethnographers from RCH Institute
of Ethnology and dieticians from the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition
has been studying the school food from 2018 to 2023. We selected a few model settlements:
in addition to the capital, Budapest, three smaller towns and two villages. Through
questionnaires, interviews, and fieldwork observations we investigated cooking, serving,
meal courses, meal-time, eating habits, preferences, as well as nutritional knowledge
of students, teachers, kitchen staff, and parents. Our goal, among other things, is
to collect best practices, to facilitate communication between the participants. Some
examples from our research highlight the special role of the centrally regulated school
food in thelocal food culture, and difficulties with social, historical roots which
on occasion hamper school lunch to become a socially accepted model of a healthy diet.
The school canteen works best at places where cooking takes place in the school building.
There is a strong connection between the kitchen staff and the teachers, and they work
together in the interest of the children. The value of food and how much it is appreciated
is shown by how it is treated and how it is talked about. Communication about food
in the canteen should be based on food preparation at home, where parents and children
work together. The operation of canteens has become particularly problem-atic following
the measures introduced due to the coronavirus epidemic. A sustainable, enjoyable
canteen can only be realized through the regular communication of schools and school
kitchens, as well as children and their parents. Our results are presented to our
respondents, also providing them with a comparison of different examples.
