Adolescencia en Riesgo: Una Encuesta de Salud Entre Estudiantes de C.O.U.

Food Education, Cookery Books and School Canteens in the Fight against Malnutrition: The Case of the Spanish Edalnu Programme (1961–1986)

“…Through a broad series of teaching proposals on food and nutrition, the composition of the different foods was explained with their classification, the immediate principles, the vitamins and minerals and the seven food groups, using a dietary guide known as the food wheel [46,49,55,56]. Moreover, in order to consider other extra-nutritional elements that could influence dietary habits or preferences, importance was also given to the wealth of local and traditional recipes, to analysing the nutritional value of typical Spanish dishes and to how they were prepared [32,33,35,51].…”

“…It was not a question of regionalising the meals, as, according to several of the documents referring to them [34][35][36], one of the objectives of the school canteens was to "teach the children to eat foods that they are not accustomed to, drawing the population out of the dietary routine in which they were immersed" [32]; however, it was advisable to include regional dishes, "which would undoubtedly please the children of that region and which, in the other regions, enabled the celebration, from time to time, of Valencia day with a paella or a Canary Islands day with rancho canario (Canarian soup), etc.". Furthermore, as also indicated in the leaflet [31], the regional dishes "could be cheaper in each area and sometimes easier to prepare than the general dishes."…”

“…In the 1980s, the meals proposed for school canteens were simplified [36] and greater focus was placed on the problem caused by obesity in the school environment [35] and, again, the nutritional value of typical Spanish dishes was emphasised [51].…”

“…The manual published in 1985 [35] included a total of 21 meals which were "easy to prepare and had a high nutritional value", six of which were included in the category of "combined dishes", given that they could be presented on one plate. The remaining fifteen were more traditional dishes (Table 3).…”

“…The main primary sources used are, on the one hand, documents (monographs and leaflets) related to the school canteens, with recipe books and school meals and menus published by the Edalnu [32][33][34][35][36]. On the other hand, we have also consulted documents from some of the organisations which collaborated in its activities, such as the School Food and Nutrition Service and the General Directorate of Primary Education or the National Institute of Hygiene, Food and Nutrition and the Nutrition Section of the Clinical Research Institute [37][38][39].…”