Towards a common understanding of food literacy

Abstract

Food literacy is an evolving term fundamental to both health and education. The concept of food literacy typically has been informed by nutrition-focused thinking, with particular emphasis on food skills. Moving beyond this traditional focus is necessary to address the demands of consumers navigating today’s complex food environments. Although the term is increasingly recognized, there is no consensus regarding the definition of food literacy or its conceptual dimensions. This paper describes a Food Literacy Conceptual Model that integrates multiple food literacy perspectives and theoretical frameworks. This Food Literacy Conceptual Model provides an enhanced framework with potential application as a pedagogical tool. As an interdisciplinary approach to food literacy, the conceptual model has the potential to increase teaching and learning effectiveness in the school context through a tailored approach to understanding the core components of this construct. In addition, a learner’s food literacy may increase with the application of this practical and more comprehensive framing in the conceptual model.

A Conceptual Model Map on Health and Nutrition Behavior (CMMHB/NB)

“…This part of the CMM refers to the Food Literacy (FL) Conceptual Model of Hernandez et al [14,15]. Even if there are other models, e.g., [16][17][18], and this one is just in the stage for a publication, we refer to it for different reasons.…”

“…In addition, FL comprises an understanding of the potential cultural, political, social, economic, and environmental impacts of food decisions [9,22,23]. Thus, FL is influenced by diverse areas of other literacies [14,15]-whereby this of course also applies to HL. For example, agri-food (or agricultural) literacy may affect one's choice of food.…”

“…A final part of the model map refers to various factors that influence a person's health behavior (e.g., by acting as an inducement for a change in behavior, by influencing one's level of knowledge or one's attitude, or by acting as consciously perceived or unconsciously remaining enablers or barriers to health-promoting behavior). According to the models of Sørensen et al [8] and Hernandez et al [14,15], three groups of influencing factors are distinguished. Personal determinants refer to characteristic of a person such as gender, age, and genetic make-up, but also one's education status, socio-economic status, and health status.…”

What Is a School Farm? Results of a Scoping Review

“…Links have been established between food system knowledge and protecting the environment [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]. There is also recent research on the importance of socio-cultural competency as a part of food literacy to support food practices, healthcare, and education involving food systems [ 5 ] and diet-related diseases [ 6 , 7 ]. Healthy School BC defines food literacy as food-related knowledge, attitudes and skills which include understanding the linkages between food, health and wellbeing, knowing how to select nutritious foods and comprehending what constitutes a healthy diet [ 8 ].…”

“…When individuals develop an understanding about what they eat and how their food is produced, there is potential for different levels of engagement and action when making food choices and interacting with the food system [ 4 , 9 , 11 ]. Some of these choices reflect the social, cultural, economic, and political factors affecting people’s access, control, and thus impact on the food system [ 5 , 13 , 14 ]. The expected benefits of food literacy education have inspired schools to prioritize nutrition education and also expand it to include broader food system topics of agriculture, ecology, social, and economic food- and health-related topics as essential knowledge for today’s complex food environments [ 1 , 5 , 15 ].…”