This paper addresses the importance of school meals in balancing food budgets and diets among 45 low‐income families in Portugal. Drawing on interviews with both parents and children (aged 11–15 years) we found that children’s views on the quality of school meals affect their willingness to eat at school and heighten parental concerns with health, food and resources. For parents, school meals are crucial to ensure children’s dietary variety and balancing tight food budgets. Schools’ role in food poverty alleviation is also critically addressed, contributing to current and future sociological studies of children, school meals and food poverty.
Green light for climatefriendly food transitions? Communicating legal innovation increases consumer support for meat curtailment policies. Environmental Communication.
Drawing upon ethnographic research developed in two Portuguese palliative care units, this article seeks to analyse end-of-life practices, namely how they are perceived and negotiated among the various actors involved. Over a period of 10 months in these units participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 family members of patients with a life-threatening illness and 20 health care professionals. Against this backdrop, aspects related to the concept of a ‘good death’, the management of pain and suffering, and the loss of consciousness were explored. The main findings pointed to an appreciation, both by professionals and family members, of an holistic intervention that guarantees the patient’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being, where the relief of physical symptoms is of particular importance and palliative sedation emerges as a mechanism that allows the patient to achieve a ‘good death’ (without suffering and in a peaceful way).
PurposeDrawing on an ethnographic research study, developed in three different food assistance initiatives (FAIs) operating in Portugal, this article seeks to explore the elements that characterize them and the main organizational challenges they face.Design/methodology/approachParticipant observation was carried out in a surplus food redistribution charity, a soup kitchen and a social supermarket, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with supervisors of these FAIs. The study followed an inductive coding strategy, and a thematic analysis was developed.FindingsThe main results point to an appreciation of the initiatives and the role they play, but they also highlight the existence of several challenges, mainly related to: 1) difficulties in accessing sources of funding, 2) the absence of an intervening state and 3) a scarcity of resources that allow a thorough assessment of their activities and services provided, which weakens the public image of these responses.Originality/valueThe development of food assistance in Europe has a long history. Over the past few years, this sector has grown significantly. Nowadays, it is possible to identify several realities around emergency food provision. However, this heterogeneity has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. In addition, there are few studies that report on the variety of initiatives that coexist in Portugal and establish a comparison between them. The current paper intends to overcome this gap by seeking to understand the main models of food assistance operating in the country.
Little has been said about the disruptive impact that the inability to eat and to participate in mealtimes has for patients with a life-threatening illness and their families.The aim of the current study is to overcome this gap and shed light on how food and eating practices are experienced by families at the end-of-life. An ethnographic research was developed in two Portuguese palliative care units: participant observation was conducted during 10 months and in-depth interviews were carried out with 10 patients with a life-threatening illness, 20 family members and 20 palliative care
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