Food can be an exciting and rewarding tool for practitioners to use to enable children to learn more about the world they live in. It can help them to better understand and appreciate the lives of people who are different from themselves.
But learning about the food eaten by people from cultures different from our own does not automatically mean that we value and respect them more.
So, learning about and appreciating the food that people from various cultures eat is only a part of learning to respect people equally.
Thinking about some key principles involved in planning projects about the diversity of food ensures that work on food is part of an overall on-going strategy about inclusion and equality.
Food for thought
* Prepare and plan every project carefully, in advance, with all other workers and family members so they all 'own' it.
* Be aware of our own attitudes to people who may eat different food than we do.
* Ensure that there is equal respect and value given to familiar and unfamiliar foods, the places where they are produced and the people who produce them.
* Be a positive model for children in trying unfamiliar food, and be enthusiastic about the experience. A practitioner's reaction to particular food may influence how a child perceives it.
* Check out any proposed place to visit in advance. Explain the purpose and discuss it with anyone involved.
* Ensure that the various places where food is eaten - outside, inside, at tables, on knees, on the floor with a cloth - are equally valued according to the climate and particular circumstances and traditions.
* Ensure that the various ways food is eaten - using chopsticks, cutlery, fingers, some pliable material to scoop (chapattis/rotis, leaves) - are equally valued, recognising that all require skills and confidence and are appropriate to the particular cultural, historical and dietary family patterns. No way is 'better' than another, and it can be fun for children to learn these different methods from each other.
* Consider what children and their family members might say or do, and plan for all eventualities in advance.
In meeting children's individual needs, we must be aware of:
* religious or dietary requirements including halal and kosher, no animal products (vegetarian/vegan), keeping cooking pots and cutlery separate, not mixing specific dietary foods together
* any cultural or religious celebrations and periods of fasting (Lent, Ramadan), special washing facilities
* the variety of ways of preparing the same food - for example, making tea or bread.
We need to take specific care to:
* avoid using negative associations of words to describe foods (smelly, funny, foreign). The term 'ethnic food' is usually used to mean food that is eaten by people from minority ethnic groups - this is incorrect, as everyone has an ethnicity. Avoid using words such as 'normal' to describe what the majority of children eat.
* recognise that children may be reluctant or ashamed to talk about what they eat at home for fear of being ridiculed, unless they feel truly included in the setting. Families in lower socio-economic groups often consume cheaper and more processed foods than others, and children from those families may feel reluctant to describe what they eat at home.
* not make assumptions about what children eat at home - Asian families may eat fish and chips, all children may have curry takeaways.
Food for fun
How might we begin, or continue, to celebrate the diversity of food in positive and practical ways?
* Inform ourselves about the varieties of food available in our local community.
* Include a project on a wide range of foods as part of an ongoing programme of addressing inequalities with children.
* Visit shops and markets and talk with the owners. Find out the names of unfamiliar fruits and vegetables and how they are used and prepared.
Examine the tins, packets and jars of food, looking at the various language scripts on the labels and find out what they are.
* Talk with children about what they eat at home, daily and on special occasions, being careful not to pry or make assumptions based on their culture.
* Assemble a variety of foods and talk about them together. Discuss and describe colours, textures, sheens, smells and tastes, and how the foods are prepared. Compare similarities and differences.
* Wherever possible, regularly provide a variety of food at mealtimes and snacks, reflecting the variety of cultures in our society. Encourage children to try it and talk together about it while they are eating.
* In areas that are remote from shops that stock a variety of food, use photographs and models of food. Ask children to find out what members of their extended families eat, and ate in the past, and plot a 'family food tree'.
* Many nurseries have an 'Asian' shop somewhere in their area that they could arrange to visit. For those areas where such shops are too far away, practitioners could set up a 'pretend' shop, making sure that they have researched the issues beforehand.
* Growing food with children - in a local allotment, the nursery garden, or even on the window sill - can be a great way to learn about how plants grow from a seed and become the lunch on their plate.
A critical part of the process of teaching children to respect and value people, promoting racial equality and celebrating diversity, is to help children to unlearn negative attitudes about people who are different from themselves.
So talking about diversity alone is not the same as talking about equality.
And the task of celebrating diversity is wider than addressing such issues as food, important though that is. It is just a part of a strategic approach to ensuring racial equality. NW This is an edited version of Jane Lane's contribution to 'Listening and Responding to Young Children's Views on Food' (see information, right) More information
* 'Listening and Responding to Young Children's Views on Food' by Ann-Marie McAuliffe, with Jane Lane, is launched today at the National Children's Bureau conference on Listening to Young Children's Views on Diet and Exercise. For a copy of the free leaflet, published by NCB on behalf of the Sure Start Unit, contact Patricia Thomas on 020 7843 6064 or download from www.earlychildhood.org.uk.