ABSTRACT
Swedish school meals are provided free of charge as a welfare service. Lately, requests for religiously sanctioned school meals have increased, and this has led to debate in society. This chapter aims to illuminate what is expressed on social media about religiously sanctioned school meals. Twelve blogs and seven internet forums were analysed using thematic analysis. Two themes were found: traditional school meals, which entailed a collective, secular school meal where religiously sanctioned food is not provided for, and cultural relativist school meals, which acknowledged individual differences and favoured catering for religiously sanctioned food. The latter theme also comprised secular requests based on modern food ideologies, which in some cases could be characterised as quasi-religious. In both themes, equality, a traditional value of the welfare state, was prominent. From a traditional standpoint, equality was assured by serving the same meal to everyone, and from a cultural relativist point of view, equality was ensured when the food served was catered to everyone’s individual needs and wishes. How the welfare state manages to bring together the traditional and cultural relativist standpoints might lead to either integration or tension in society as a whole and in institutions such as schools.
