Schools, Work, and the Nutrition Environment: Low-Income Latino Family Food Behaviors

1) Introduction- With the growing obesity epidemic, especially among low-income Latinos, food behaviors at the family level are of particular interest. 2) Approach- This qualitative study explored how schools and jobs shape family food behaviors in 23 low-income Latino families, whose children attend schools with the National School Lunch Program and/or a charter school that makes lunch from scratch.  Data was collected via participant observation and interviews over the course of one year. 3) Results- Many of the children who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have a taste for “fast food” although children’s food preferences are also influenced by food prepared at home and family dinner routines. Work schedules of parents, especially late night shifts, shape the dinnertime routine and other food behaviors such as types of snacks made available and cooking behaviors. These routines play an interacting deterministic relationship with food preferences and behaviors. 3) Discussion- Low-income, immigrant Latino children are socialized into American “fast food” through the NSLP while simultaneously being socialized to traditional food at home. Traditional Latino food can range from minimally processed to heavily fried. As many low-income Latino children participate in NSLP many systematically attain a preference for “fast food;” while parents simultaneously struggle to reproduce a taste for traditional foods among their children. Parents who also must work a late night shift may lead to the demise of a dinnertime routine, which may also be related to the socialization of children’s food preferences.