Background
Life is full of food and meals, also for our children. Instead of recognizing these situations as sources of well-being, learning, and socialization, we tend to give the children a passive role and accept that the conditions are heavily restrictive from their point of view.
Only two out of 100 children are involved in cooking in the family setting, which means we are facing a generation with very limited knowledge on food (DTU Fødevareinstituttet, MidtiUgen). Children's Best Table is working to change these tendencies, which deprive children of input and knowledge about food, health, and creativity. Instead we ask, How would children like to prepare, serve, eat, enjoy and learn from their meals if we let them decide for themselves?
Basis and methodology
Children’s Best Table has been established by the organization Children Allowed (Barntillåtet), which focuses on interactions between food, culture and nature.
Children Allowed’s goal is to help create a more child-friendly society through an acknowledgement that children are: socially active, co-creators of the society in which we live, conscious consumers of information and knowledge, and corporate citizens with the right to take part in matters affecting them.
Since 2009, Children Allowed has talked with hundreds of children ages 8-12 and offered a number of activities in cooperation with regional companies, municipalities and schools.
Thus, Children's Best Table is also based on the preferences of children age 8-12 – ages when one is curious about trying new things, is easy to teach, and affects the family's joint decisions. The project methodology is unique and produced in collaboration with scientists, cooks, parents, and of course children themselves!
