Smaksverkstedet - facilitating social eating pleasure

Background: Food is so much more than nutrients. Emotional and social nourishment, components of eating pleasure, should be included as an important aspect related to cooking and eating. There is a strong link between sharing meals and subjective wellbeing and social support. Our dietary habits are mainly formed during childhood, and thus it is important to facilitate children's exposure to healthy food. Smaksverkstedet is a free after-school program where kids cook and eat together, and learn about healthy and sustainable food. At the end of the semester the kids invite their families, and sometimes also the rest of the neighborhood, to share a meal. The program aims to reduce social inequality, strengthen social relationships, and equip children to make better food-choices through gaining knowledge and positive food experiences. In this study, the funding for Smakstverkstedet was a collaboration between the municipality and public funds, and areas with lower socio-economic-status were selected.


Method: A qualitative method, with six individual telephone interviews was conducted with parents of children who had participated in Smaksverkstedet in two different areas. Also one neighborhood-dinner and one final family-dinner were observed. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.


Results: Five themes related to cooking and eating were developed: 1) having time and space to participate, 2) being with others, 3) gaining more knowledge and understanding, 4) being encouraged to try new foods, and 5) experiencing self-efficacy and self-confidence. The first four themes point to factors at Smaksverkstedet that facilitated eating pleasure. The last theme points to how the children, because of this, gained more self-confidence and experienced self-efficacy. Not only did the kids get nourishment from the food, but also social nourishment by connecting with and cooperating with each other. Equipping children to become more confident in cooking and making healthy food-choices is an important aspect of life skills. New and deeper relationships were formed between the children, and the neighbourhood-dinner was a positive initiative for the neighborhood.

Conclusion: To be given space in the kitchen, being with others and gaining more knowledge, facilitates for children to experience eating pleasure, self-efficacy and self-confidence. Investing in children causes ripple effects beyond the individual, towards their families and neighborhood.