{"product_id":"first-helpings-a-history-of-children-and-food","title":"First Helpings: A History of Children and Food","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat children should eat, how much they should be given, and how they ought to behave at the table have been subjects of debate for centuries. In \u003cem\u003eFirst Helpings,\u003c\/em\u003e Deborah Albon and Amy Palmer examine the changing relationship between childhood and food from the Middle Ages to the present, revealing how ideas about feeding children have reflected broader attitudes toward health, education, morality, and social class.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePractices once considered essential to children’s well-being, from balancing the body’s four humors through diet to the deliberate underfeeding of pupils at British boarding schools, offer a sometimes startling contrast with contemporary expectations. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on cookbooks, etiquette manuals, children’s literature, and historical records, the authors explore everything from breastfeeding and infant nutrition to the emergence of foods and drinks marketed specifically to children. They consider the development of table manners, the provision of school meals, and the ways children have learned to cook, while also examining their historical roles in growing, preparing, and producing food. Questions of hunger, poverty, and access to adequate nutrition run throughout, reminding readers that the experience of childhood has never been uniform. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth former early-years educators at the University of Roehampton in London, Albon and Palmer bring an understanding of children’s development to their historical research. Illustrated with archival images, First Helpings offers an unusual perspective on food history, one that considers not only what adults have decided children should eat, but how those decisions have shaped children’s everyday lives. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardcover. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"REAK","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41736376680581,"sku":"Deborah Albon and Amy Palmer","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0297\/5046\/0549\/files\/AlbonFirstHelpingsCover.jpg?v=1792619530","url":"https:\/\/www.kitchenartsandletters.com\/products\/first-helpings-a-history-of-children-and-food","provider":"Kitchen Arts \u0026 Letters","version":"1.0","type":"link"}