The Role and Status of Food and Nutrition Literacy in Canadian School Curricula

The obesity epidemic in North America has given greater attention to food and nutrition literacy in Canadian schools. However, the review of relevant literature on food and nutrition literacy reveals quite a range of understandings of what such literacy means. This raises the question of what understanding of food and nutrition literacy is actually represented in Canadian curriculum documents, considering that it is the curriculum that primarily drives teaching and learning in schools? Using a document analysis approach, the study reported upon in this article enquires into this very question. While the study finds a range of conceptualizations represented across provinces, territories and subject areas, it identifies the preferred framing of food and nutrition literacy as being related to food consumption and health at the individual level.