In Sweden, school lunch has been served for more than a hundred years, but it was not until 1997 that it became a democratic right to all school children. Today, about 1.3 million hot school meals are served daily. Over the years, the school meal quality has been associated with different opinions and subject to much debate.
In the present study, we explored school meal food and taste memories in a web based survey with open questions, distributed in social media in the summer of 2020. The 246 respondents attended school between the 40s and the beginning of the 2000s and shared freely their views and experiences of the food and different tastes, but also of the atmosphere and feelings. A thematic qualitative analysis was carried out using NVivo 12 Pro, resulting in two overarching themes.
The traditional school food heritage theme consisted of accounts of traditional Swedish food through the ages and meanings attached to it. Positive, as well as negative memories were connected to likes and dislikes of certain foods and dishes. The social school food heritage theme tells us about coercion, control and peer pressure, but also about joy, friendship and togetherness. For some pupils, it was the only proper meal that they ate during the day.
The Swedish school meal is a shared experience surrounded by strong feelings and memories regarding the food and the context. The school meal means a lot both culturally and socially and acts as a carrier of a common food heritage.