Turning Down Mum's Cooking: The Ethics of Dietary Difference within Families

ABSTRACT Although food ethicists have called for greater attention to the relational context of eating for over a decade, the context of ‘eating with family’ remains largely ignored. But the family is both a morally specific relational context and one within which many people do most of their eating. In this article, I shed light on the ethical complexities of eating with family through an analysis of the tensions arising when some family members eat differently from others. Drawing from family ethics, care ethics, and bioethics, I argue that feeding and eating with family are central ways to discharge three moral responsibilities: to care, to hold family members in their identities, and to be considerate of the care work done by family members. I show how each responsibility applies to feeding and eating with family and how attempts to fulfil these responsibilities can clash with the needs of those who eat differently. I conclude by articulating strategies for managing these moral responsibilities so as to better enable everyone to participate in and benefit from eating with family. Overall, this article aims to elucidate the moral significance of eating with family and to underscore its importance for any comprehensive food ethics.