“I was pushed over the edge, but I didn't die” – A qualitative case study of Danish school children's food literacy at FOODcamp

Food literacy (FL) is a goal for many food camps aimed at improving school children's culinary skills and food knowledge. FL in relation to children has been defined as constituting five competencies: “to do” (practical skills),“to know” (knowledge), “to sense” (sensory experiences), “to care” (care for self and others), and “to want” (to be willing to act). However, understanding the processes and mechanisms that relates to school children's FL remain underexplored. The aim of this study was to identify underlying mechanisms operating at a food camp and elucidate how they relate to FL competencies among school children. A qualitative embedded case study design was used to explore this with a Danish food camp programme ‘FOODcamp’ targeting school-going children aged 12–14 years, constituting an instrumental case. A theory-driven abductive research strategy was used to facilitate analytical generalization. Five schools and nine classes participating in FOODcamp were recruited for the study. Data comprised 10 focus group discussions conducted with children, nine interviews conducted with teachers, and 10 days of observation at FOODcamp. The analysis resulted in 12 conceptually derived mechanisms operating at a food camp namely ‘hands-on with food and kitchen utensils', ‘use of all senses’, ‘help and recognition’, ‘theoretical reflection’, ‘from farm to table’, ‘try new and scary things’, ‘experimenting’, ‘genuine participation’, ‘cook from scratch’, ‘principles', ‘meal group community’ and ‘food group community’. These mechanisms were in various combinations and in a dynamic interplay with contextual conditions related to school children's five FL competencies. The conceptually derived mechanisms may guide future research and practice by highlighting various processes and contextual conditions, given that they are adapted to the specific possibilities of a given context and age group.