Drawing on two qualitative studies which looked at diet, weight and health from a social class perspective, we use Bourdieu's theory of habitus to help explain the different food and eating practices undertaken by families with young teenagers. Whilst the families displayed considerable reflexivity when making decisions about what to eat on a daily basis, the analysis highlighted that everyday behaviours are still bounded by distinctions of taste, according to social position.The paper includes an examination of the relationships between different forms of capital and whether form or functionality is prioritised within families. We show the importance of temporal frameworks when interpreting classed food and eating practices.

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This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of views and understandings of dietary practices in middle class families. Thirty five parents/main food providers of boys and girls aged 13/14 years, living in Eastern Scotland, were interviewed about their and their teenagers' everyday lives, food, health and family practices. One of our aims was to understand more about the social and cultural conditions which might be promoting more positive dietary health and physical well-being amongst middle class families. Most parents' accounts appeared rooted in a taken-for-grantedness that family members enjoyed good health, lived in relatively secure and unthreatening environments regarding health and resources, and were able to lead active lives, which they valued. Although controlling teenagers' eating practices was presented as an ongoing challenge, active supervision and surveillance of their diets was described, as was guiding tastes in 'the right direction'. Parents described attempts to achieve family eating practices such as commensality, cooking from scratch, and encouraging a varied and nutritional 'adult' diet and cosmopolitan tastes, though work and activities could compromise these. These middle class families might be characterized as having future oriented 'hierarchies of luxury and choice', in which controlling and moulding teenagers' food practices and tastes was assigned a high priority.

This paper draws on accounts from young teenagers and their parents in two linked qualitative studies of families living in Scotland in differing socioeconomic circumstances. We compare and contrast teenager experiences of eating practices and food choice in these families. We show the range of meanings attached to how, where and what these teenagers and their parents described as everyday eating behaviours at home and locate these in the wider constraints, opportunities and aspirations affecting their lives.

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