About babies and food choices: what do grandmothers think?

Abstract

This article aims to analyze changes in the introduction of solid foods to babies over the years. This is a bibliographic review that analyzes interviews conducted with middle-class grandmothers from the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The first sections of the article present the theoretical framework that will support the analysis of the interviews on food introduction and the role of mothers and grandmothers in the social construction of children’s palate. The perspective of grandmothers on the processes involving the introduction of food for babies is privileged, addressing the forms of learning, mother-daughter, mother-in-law, and daughter-in-law relationships, practices, techniques, and types of selected foods. Although the analysis is limited to a very specific social universe of middle-class families in Rio de Janeiro, it is believed that this study can contribute to the broader debate on the change in dietary patterns and the social construction of taste. The main conclusions highlight the change in food introduction over a generation, with greater concern about the consumption of salt and sugar, as well as avoiding processed and ultra-processed products.