Document Type

Honors Project

Publication Date

6-5-2024

Abstract

The Building For Kids children’s museum in Appleton, Wisconsin, as a part of their recent initiative to promote food and nutrition education in the Fox Valley, developed and administered cooking classes geared towards families with young children. This honors project evaluates these workshops through the theoretical lens of food agency, an emerging paradigm in food systems scholarship. Following a mixed-methods design, this project utilizes group interviews, systematic behavior observations, and the Cooking and Food Provisioning Action Scale survey to identify barriers and supports of home cooking among Fox Valley parents, recommend areas of opportunity for future workshops, and explore the role of children in the meal making process. Time constraints emerged as a major barrier to meal prep among participants. Many participants articulated the difficulties of involving children in meal preparation, but for others, children’s involvement in meal preparation was a support of home cooking and often reduced time constraints. The workshops demonstrated to parents that their children can perform many meal prep tasks, and some children have become more engaged in the meal making process as a result. Participants wished the workshops were expanded to incorporate more cooking tasks for children and include more nutritional and organizational advice for adults.

Level of Honors

summa cum laude

Department

Anthropology

Advisor

Mark Jenike

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Anthropology Commons

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