The school lunchbox as a social problem

Abstract

School lunchboxes contain much more than just food. Maternal and paternal moralities, socioeconomic pressures, and the character of contemporary food systems can all be found within them. Lunchboxes, in turn, are microcosms of food system shifts, including the proliferation of highly-profitable, strategically-engineered ultra-processed foods. These commodities, often representing between 40% and 80% of energy intake depending on contexts, are having harmful effects on the health of children and adult populations worldwide. In this paper we examine evolving food system issues as they intersect with school lunchbox dynamics, through in-depth interviews with 34 parents in Australia. The results focus on the affective relations of ‘food parenting’, the fast-paced temporalities surrounding contemporary food cultures, the socialisation of dietary imbalances and governance of food systems and practices. We argue that the school lunchbox is an important example of the individualisation of responsibility for collective, multi-scale, social problems.