Eating in a Home for Children. Food Resistance in the Residence Juan de Lanuza

Résumé 0

The basic needs of the children of the Residence Juan de Lanuza (Zaragoza, Spain) are covered by the daily amount of food they are provided with at meals. However, the tasks of the professionals who work in this Home are not restricted to feeding. One of the educational goals is to teach children socially adapted food habits, which are considered essential for the young persons’ “culturisation”. Food socialization has its roots in the ideology of the educating staff. The disciplinary system is based on the containment of deviations from normative food habits. The harshest punishment is inflicted when the child refuses to eat. The aim of this paper is to show that the resistance to food offered by the children of this Home between 6 and 12 years of age, is not due to lack of appetite but is the expression of a specific demand. Through their behaviour the children make explicit their wish to belong to a certain age group, they assert their ethnic difference, they show whether they wish to relate or not to other children or the staff, they ask for the educator’s attention to their state of mind, etc.