WHAT IS FOOD LITERACY?
Helen Vidgen
Senior Research Fellow
School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Faculty of Health
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia
The emergence of “food literacy”
as a term

Giessen Declaration (2005)

Public Health Association of Australia : Food Futures (2009)

Eat Well Queensland : Are we half way there yet? (2009)

Prime Minister’s Food Security Plan (2009)

UK Foresight Report (2007)

US Institute of Medicine Report (2012)

Australian Dietary Guidelines (2013)

Australia’s National Food Plan (2013)
Use of the term “food literacy” in the
literature between 1990-2012.
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
The
GASTRONOMIC
REVOLUTION
Other words…



Meal preparation
Food skills
Nutrition knowledge



Food involvement
Cooking
….and other “literacies”
Where do we learn about food?






Home
School
Cooking classes and
demonstrations
Recipes
Celebrity chefs
Food industry
Research Questions:
What is food literacy ?
What are the components of food
literacy?
How does food literacy relate to
nutrition?
Literature review to examine
use of term
Expert Study
memo writing
Data collection: Round
one interviews
memo writing
Analysis using open
in vivo codes
Axial coding
memo writing
Round two Survey
Young People Study
Quantitative analysis
Data collection: Interviews
memo writing
Round three survey
Analysis using open coding
Quantitative analysis
Axial coding
memo writing
Definition, components
and model developed
Peer Review
including:
* Review of
interventions
* Conference
presentations
memo writing
Definition, components and
model developed
Peer review
The
development
of food
literacy
Commercial design
Peer review
•Final definition
•Final set of components
•Final model of the relationship between food literacy and nutrition
•Final model of the relationship between food literacy and health
over arching criteria
national
representation
extensive work
experience
work setting
research
practitioners
sector
diversity
policy makers
work that
contributes to
improving healthy
food choice
nutrition
production
food
industry
welfare
gastronomy
education
advocates
EXPERT STUDY SAMPLING MATRIX
RED CROSS
NIGHT CAFÉ
ALBERT
PK FLC
KINGSTON
FLC
IPSWICH
CC
QUT
NUTRITION
AUSTRALIA
TOTAL
7
9
5
6
8
2
37
Range
16-20
16-25
16-17
17-24
19-25
23
16-25
mean
18.2
18.7
16.0
20.2
23.3
23.0
19.8
Nil
5
0
0
0
0
0
5
Social security
1
9
4
2
0
0
16
Parents
0
0
1
0
1
0
2
wages
1
0
0
4
7
2
14
Dis-engaged
6
0
0
1
0
0
7
Re-engaged
0
9
5
0
0
0
14
Completed
1
0
0
5
8
2
16
TOTAL PARTICIPANTS
AGE
PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME
ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOLING
SEIFA : Advantage and Disadvantage Quintile
Lowest
0
1
4
0
0
0
5
Second
1
1
0
4
0
0
6
Third
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
Fourth
0
5
0
0
0
0
5
Highest
1
2
0
0
8
2
13
Unclassifiable due to homelessness
5
0
0
1
0
0
6
Food literacy is . . . .
the scaffolding that empowers
 individuals
 households
 communities or
 nations
to protect diet quality through change and strengthen
dietary resilience over time.
Food literacy is....
A collection of inter-related knowledge, skills and
behaviours required to plan, manage, select,
prepare and eat food to meet needs and determine
intake.
Food literacy is . . . .
The tools for a healthy lifelong relationship
with food
Food literacy is ...
Highly contextual.
That is, the nature of each component and its
importance relative to other components will be
contextually driven.
1. Plan
and Manage
2. Select
2.1 Access food through multiple
sources and know the advantages and
disadvantages of these sources.
1.1 Prioritise money and time for food.
1.2 Plan food intake (formally and informally)
so that food can be regularly accessed through
some source, irrespective of changes in
circumstances or environment.
1.3 Make feasible food decisions which
balance food needs (e.g. nutrition, taste,
hunger) with available resources (e.g.
time, money, skills, equipment).
2.2 Determine what is in a food product,
where it came from, how to store it and use
it.
2.3 Judge the quality of food.
FOOD
LITERACY
3. Prepare
is the ability to..
3.1 Make a good tasting meal from
whatever is available. This includes being
able to prepare commonly available foods,
efficiently use common pieces of kitchen
equipment and having a sufficient
repertoire of skills to adapt recipes (written
or unwritten) to experiment with food and
ingredients.
3.2 Apply basic principles of
safe food hygiene and handling.
4. Eat
4.1 Understand that food has an
impact on personal wellbeing.
4.2 Demonstrate self-awareness of the
need to personally balance food intake.
This includes knowing foods to include for
good health, foods to restrict for good
health, and appropriate portion size and
frequency.
4.3 Join in and eat in a social way.
1. Planning and Management
1.1 Prioritise money and time for food.
1.2 Plan food intake (formally and informally) so
that food can be regularly accessed through
some source, irrespective of changes in
circumstances or environment.
1.3 Make feasible food decisions which balance
food needs (eg nutrition, taste, hunger) with
available resources (eg time, money, skills,
equipment).
2. Selection
2.1 Access food through multiple sources and know
the advantages and disadvantages of these
sources.
2.2 Determine what is in a food product, where it
came from, how to store it and use it.
2.3 Judge the quality of food.
3. Preparation
3.1 Make a good tasting meal from whatever is
available. This includes being able to prepare
commonly available foods, efficiently use common
pieces of kitchen equipment and having a
sufficient repertoire of skills to adapt recipes
(written or unwritten) to experiment with food and
ingredients.
3.2 Apply the basic principles of safe food hygiene
and handling
4. Eating
4.1 Understand food has an impact on personal
wellbeing.
4.2 Demonstrate self-awareness of the need to personally
balance food intake. This includes knowing foods to
include for good health, foods to restrict for good
health and appropriate portion size and frequency.
4.3 Join in and eat in a social way.
“No offense Helen but isn’t
everything you came up
with kind of obvious”
Close nutritionist friend of mine, Sept 2012
NUTRITION
diet quality
food group
serves
FOOD
LITERACY
Certainty
Choice
Pleasure
nutrient intake
Other outcomes eg:
•social connectedness
•ethical and sustainable
food choices
•food security
NUTRITION
diet quality
food group
serves
FOOD
LITERACY
Certainty
Choice
Pleasure
nutrient intake
Other outcomes eg:
•social connectedness
•ethical and sustainable
food choices
•food security
NUTRITION
diet quality
food group
serves
FOOD
LITERACY
Certainty
Choice
Pleasure
nutrient intake
Other outcomes eg:
•social connectedness
•ethical and sustainable
food choices
•food security
NUTRITION
diet quality
food group
serves
FOOD
LITERACY
Certainty
Choice
Pleasure
nutrient intake
Other outcomes eg:
•social connectedness
•ethical and sustainable
food choices
•food security
disadvantage
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
Confounders eg:
access, transport
food insecurity
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
Confounders
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
nutritional status
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
Confounders eg:
physical activity
MEDIATOR:
FOOD LITERACY
body weight
Confounders eg:
genetics
chronic disease risk
Person
Aust Red
Cross
Albert Park
FLC
Recruitment site
Kingston FLC Ipswich City QUT
Council
Nutrition
Australia Qld
total
Family member:

Mother

Grandmother

Father

Aunt

Stepmother

Stepfather

Sister
0
4
1
2
6
1
14
2
2
2
0
1
0
7
1
0
0
2
0
0
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
0
3
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
Peer:

Housemate

Boyfriend

Girlfriend

Personal Trainer

Best Friend’s
Mother
Recruitment site
Age when first left Age when first
parental home
Total
became responsible participants
for food
Mean
Range
Mean
Range
15.0*
12-19*
14.6
7-19
7
15.8
14-18
14.7
7-18
9
16.0*** 16***
12.0
8-16
5
Ipswich City Council
17.0
15-19
17.0
15-19
6
QUT School of Business
19.6**
17-23**
19.1
17-24
8
Nutrition Australia Qld
21.0
20-22
19.5
17-22
2
Australian Red Cross Night
Café
Albert Park Flexible
Learning Centre
Kingston Flexible Learning
Centre
* one participant had not left their parental home; **two participants had not left their parental home; ***three participants had not left their parental home
Source: http://www.ereflc.org.au/albert_park.html
http://westside-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/cafe-for-homeless-youth-has-new-
Food literacy is....
the scaffolding that empowers individuals, households communities
or nations to protect diet quality through change and
strengthen dietary resilience over time.
A collection of inter-related knowledge, skills and behaviours
required to plan, manage, select, prepare and eat food to
meet needs and determine intake.
Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Model of
Human Development (Santrock, 2007)
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK
YOU

Supervisory team:
Principal Supervisor: Assoc Prof Danielle Gallegos
 Associate Supervisor: Prof Lynne Daniels
 Associate Supervisor: Prof Martin Caraher





Project team (inc Edmund Rice Education, Red Cross
Australia)
Participants
Queensland Health
NZNF
[email protected]