Snack market on the playground: an ethnography of trade patterns of snacks among French children

Abstract

Purpose – This study investigates a particular food practice which takes place in the playground at school: the afternoon snack. During this special moment, children are free to share and swap their snacks, according to their affinities. The study aims to demonstrate how this food consumption is part of the process of children's socialization. Design/methodology/approach – This paper relies on an ethnographic study of children's behaviour during snack time. Two primary schools representing two different social backgrounds are compared. Pupils are aged from six to ten years. The systematic review of children's snacks during a three-month observation period in each school allowed the author to transform the qualitative observations into quantitative data. Findings – The trading of snacks between children gives rise to entire networks, strategies of exchange and sometimes even snacks theft. The food exchanges act as an indicator of social relationships between the kids. In this regard, snack time teaches us even more about children's behavior and socialization. There are two reasons for that, the first one is that the products consumed are chosen, either by the parents or the children themselves and has nothing to do with the lunch served by the school. The second one is that it is a particularly pleasant moment for them, as it is a time for sweet food shared with their peers. Research limitations/implications – This is a limited monograph of the snacking behaviour of 20 children with the highest attendance to afterschool study. Originality/value – The originality of that study is to focus on a space-time and a school food practice that are not often investigated by researchers.