(Dis)Connections

Food is strongly symbolic and can hold either divergent or similar meanings to people from different backgrounds. The purpose of this research was to understand the roles food plays in the personal and professional lives of dietetics students and registered dietitians across Canada. This exploratory qualitative study included dietetic students (n=10) in Atlantic Canada and the Dietitians of Canada Student Network, and dietitians (n=15) from across Canada. The meaning of food was examined through the Photovoice technique with individual in-depth interviews to examine food perspectives and understandings. Transcripts were analyzed, ensuring data trustworthiness, through dependability, confirmability, and transferability of data and methods. Findings showed that shared food experiences might produce and reinforce emotional and social bonds among individuals. Sharing foods often helped to build social groups or communities. This study also identified the depth of contested relationships with food and negative language used to describe food, self, and food choice behaviours while underscoring the pressures to conform to a perceived external ideal. The results of this research highlighted the different roles and meanings that food plays for dietetics students and dietitians. These findings may initiate further self-reflection and empathy regarding food choice behaviours of self and others. Results might also clarify the impacts of personal epistemologies and ontologies on practice, which has the potential to strengthen the dietetics profession.