P4 - Epistemological Obstacles in Linking Food Education and Food Systems: Through the Systematic Review on Food Education Research in Japan

Abstract

Background (Background, Rationale, Prior Research, and/or Theory): Being paradoxical to the agricultural accentuation in a nation-led food education initiative called Shokuiku in Japan, critics have pointed out the declining status of food systems in its programmatic orientation. Objective: The objectives were to elucidate how food education research in Japan has approached “food systems”, in an agricultural economic sense, and to articulate the epistemological obstacles in linking food education and food systems. Study Design, Setting, Participants, Intervention: The systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA statement guidelines. Using the CiNii Articles, full articles (published in 2007–2017) were located among six prominent national journals in food education research. The eligible articles included the keyword, “Shokuiku”, in their title, abstract, or body texts, and primarily focused on the Japanese case of food education. Outcome Measures and Analysis: Each eligible study was evaluated based on the criteria critical to food system research in agricultural economics: targeted constituent substructures of food system; targeted actors; and targeted food system problems. Results: As for the constituent substructures, 79% of the total 130 eligible studies focused on consumption structures, while only 6% analyzed the business behaviors (such as supermarkets). Concerning the targeted actors, 80% only approached consumers (i.e. children and parents), whereas 15% discussed retailers and school meal providers, while only 5% approached producers. Eighty-two percent attempted to address “healthy eating” as food system issues, although 15% and 9% focused on food cultures and agricultural issues, respectively. It is also highlighted that most studies discussed exclusively the biological/behavioral dimension of consumption (as “eaters”), not its economic dimension (as “consumers”). This inhibited researchers from considering consumption's “feedback effects” on the food systems and excluding the upward actors (notably, producers and food manufacturers) from their consideration. Conclusions and Implications: These identified epistemological obstacles are inviting food education researchers to reconsider our approach to eating behaviors which is eater-centered and decoupled from economic considerations. Funding: None.