Trajectory of food and nutritional education policies in Brazil

Abstract

Food and Nutrition Education is the field of knowledge that takes into account the representations about eating and food, knowledge and values of food, with a view to the autonomy of choice of subjects in matters related to food and nutrition. This text is the result of a theoretical research aimed at identifying the trajectory of Food and Nutritional Education in Brazil, which outlined it as a field of knowledge. The current policies of this field of knowledge are the result of overcoming a past where educational approaches focused on food predominated that took place in a decontextualized, normative and strictly biological way. This trajectory involves disputes in its theory and practice that show that the resolution of the food problem in Brazil is permeated by a profound economic and social restructuring. We highlight the need for the practices of Food and Nutrition Education to be guided by the critical and emancipatory perspective of education.