About the Book

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Picky eating. Obesity. Malnutrition. Cutting through current anxiety and hype, Small Bites challenges preconceptions about the biological basis of children's eating habits, gendered and parent-focused responsibility, and the notion of naturally determined children's foods.

    Tina Moffat draws on extensive anthropological research to explore the biological and sociocultural determinants of child nutrition and feeding. Are children naturally picky eaters? How can school meal programs help to address food insecurity and malnutrition? How has the industrial food system commodified children's food and shaped children's bodies?

    Small Bites investigates how children are fed in school and at home in Nepal, France, Japan, Canada, and the United States to reveal the ways child nutrition reflects broader cultural approaches to childhood and food. The important work also sets a course for food policy, schools, communities, and caregivers to improve children's food and nutrition equitably and sustainably. 

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"There has not been a book to date on the biocultural analysis of child feeding. I welcome this one." Andrea Wiley, professor, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University

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"In Small Bites, Tina Moffat answers a number of important questions about children's diet and nutrition the world over in order to improve our children's nutritional well-being." Anthony Wilson, author of the Industrial Diet: Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy Eating.