How to Define Family Meals in “Shokuiku” (Food and Nutrition Education)

Abstract

The Japanese government has set 11 targets to promote "Shokuiku." However, among the 11 targets, only two targets (frequency of shared family meals and the proportion of breakfast skipping in children and young men) are quantitative goals. The increase in children eating alone is often lamented in the popular media, but the methodology for identifying the status of family meals ("Kyoshoku"), or how the responses should be validated, is rarely discussed. In the current review, we attempt to clarify how a family meal and survey responses are defined, by searching literature published after 2009, using the following keywords: "family meals" or "shared meals," in the PubMed database for English. For literature published in Japanese, we searched the Igakuchuo-Zassi Database and Google Scholar for relevant studies. In the English literature, questions were likely to focus on whether a dinner or any meal was eaten together with family members living together, while Japanese literature was more focused on "breakfast or dinner" eaten together with family members. The response options varied across different studies, such as the number of family meals a week, or the number of days (per week) these family meals were eaten. We found it quite difficult to compare across the studies, as there is no standardized definition or response options for "family meals." Further studies are needed in order to develop a standardized method to assess the current status of "family meals."

Effects of eating dinner alone on overweight in Japanese adolescents: a cross-sectional survey

“…In addition, Adachi reported that 26.4% of children eat breakfast alone, 24.5% eat with other children but no adults, and these two groups combined showed a 12% increase compared with results reported 20 years ago [ 11 , 12 ]. Moreover, the increase in the proportion of children eating alone is often lamented in the popular media in Japan [ 13 ].…”

The Relationship between Family Meals and Mental Health Problems in Japanese Elementary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Previous studies have investigated the "frequency of eating meals with family members" without limiting meals or limited to specific meals such as dinner. The definition of "with family" also varies, including most, all, and at least one parent [19,20,31,32]. Different definitions make direct comparisons difficult and require the standardization of survey methods.…”

“…Furthermore, despite the importance of the topic, there are no standardized definitions or response options for "family meals" [31]. Systematic reviews indicate great variability regarding the measurement of the frequency of family meals, each study's question was worded differently, and the reference period varied; some studies enquired about the frequency of certain meals and the number of family members present for the meal [19,20,32].…”

Sifting through preschool teachers' funds of knowledge to reveal culturally sustaining child-feeding professional learning opportunities at one university in Singapore

“…Inventor Melville Dewey (John Dewey's distant cousin) was a particularly keen proponent of examining feeding practices via home economics classes at universities (Dewey, 1908(Dewey, /2000. Across the Pacific too, in Japan, shokuiku (food education) dates back to the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912) (Takimoto et al, 2015). It was pioneered by the founder of the macrobiotic diet movement, Sagen Ishizuka (Ueda, 2022).…”