MÅLTIDER SOM FAMILIE-SKABELSE OG FRISÆTTELSE

Abstract

Trine Iversen & Lotte Holm: Meals and

the Making of Family - and

Individualisation

In this article we discuss the role of meals in

family life. In the sociological literature on

food and eating the issue of meals is

integrated in discussions of family life,

social communities and socialisation of

children and adolescents. In this empirically

based article we focus on a group of Danish

adults’ considerations about meals. On this

basis we wish somewhat to modify the

assumption which is implicit in the literature,

as well as in public debate; namely, that the

daily family meal is the foundation for

integration of the individual household

members into a group, i.e. that it is the basis

for the making of the family. Our material

shows that the family meal is indeed an ideal

that adults strive to realise. However, adults

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are ambigious in this endeavour, as they are

very considerate about adolescents’ social

activities outside the home. In faet we find

that adults contribute to the process of

individualisation which occurs during the

teenage period, by accomodating mealtimes

or accepting non-attendance at meals. The

project of making the family appears to be an

adult project, to which the adolescents are

not expected to contribute. Rather, adults

acknowledge the need and desire of

adolescents to liberale themselves from the

household unit.