S2 Episode Eight: Dr. Michelle Share "Food Matters: It's not just what you eat, but where, how, and with whom"

Dr Michelle Share is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. She is a sociologist with extensive experience in the conduct of multi-site research and evaluation projects in child and youth settings. She has researched and published on the role of grandparents in childcare provision; children and parents who use intellectual disability services; educational access programmes at second and third level; young people food and nutrition in second level and alternative education settings; and surplus food distribution in community and voluntary organisations. She was the principal investigator on a study of transnational grandparenting among Polish families in Ireland, and in 2024 with Alicja Bobek, TU Dublin, published Polish Families in Ireland: A Life Course Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan). You can read about Michelle’s extensive research portfolio at this link. In this episode we discuss Michelle’s diverse career in sociology and education, focusing on the Sociology of Food. She highlights the importance of food beyond nutrition, emphasizing its role in social connections and care. The Sociology of Food and Education We discuss the importance of the context in which food is eaten, including family meals and school dining experiences and Michelle highlights the role of food in connecting people and the hidden curriculum in schools related to food. She also mentions the cultural capital aspect of food and how it can be classist, with differences in food provision between socioeconomic groups. School Food and Socioeconomic Disparities Michelle shares her research on school food, including the differences in food provision between private and public schools and the impact of budget constraints on meal quality. We discuss the importance of choice in school meals and the resistance from students when their choices are limited. Michelle highlights the challenges faced by schools in providing nutritious meals while managing limited resources and the impact of school policies on food waste. The Role of Families and Community in Food Education Central to our discussion is the importance of engaging families in food education and the challenges of maintaining connections between school and home. Michelle highlights the intergenerational educational disadvantage and the impact of alternative education settings on food practices and social skills. The Impact of School Meals Programmes Michelle critiques the current school meals programme in Ireland, emphasizing the need for localized and community-based approaches to food provision. She discusses the challenges of providing hot food in schools and the importance of having some form of nutrition available for students while highlighting the need for schools to think about how they can connect food to the curriculum and sustainability messages. Surplus Food and Community Support Michelle’s current research focuses on surplus food and its redistribution to community organizations, focusing on the emotional and physical labor involved. She highlights the challenges faced by community organizations during the pandemic and the increased demand for food support and she shares her study on the feasibility of social groceries or social supermarkets in higher education settings to support students in poverty. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the needs of students and the broader issues of food poverty and inequality. The Role of AI in Education We discuss the use of AI tools in her academic literacy module, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking skills in engaging with AI while highlighting the equity issues related to access to AI tools and the need for educators to work with AI in a critical and informed way. A very interesting conversation with lots for us to think about in relation to food at all levels of education.