ABSTRACT
Through the discussion of a series of observations while food was being produced, sold and eaten in two public primary schools located in the central region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico and with interviews with diverse actors involved in these processes, in this chapter, I show the tensions between the nutritionist understanding of food underpinning ‘healthy’ eating initiatives and the day-to-day practices and meanings associated around food in schools, which are shaped by culture, taste and, notably, the economy. I argue that rather than as ‘obesogenic environments’ schools need to be seen as complex gastro-political spaces, where food is in constant tension with what many times are culturally, politically and economically decontextualised public health goals.
