Abstract
The knowledge and practices of individuals (re)produce themselves daily based on the intertwining of personal experience with the human and social relations experienced in the various collective spaces. In this regard, schools and health facilities are privileged spaces of action and research. The purpose of this article is to discuss knowledge and practices related to eating habits, central to the crosscutting theme of health, through dialog with education and health professionals of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To achieve this, discussions carried out in the socio-anthropological field of eating were considered. Qualitative research methods were used to enhance the intersubjectivities and meanings the subjects attribute to their own life experiences. Four focus groups were analyzed, which resulted in debates on the social processes related to food, to changes and continuities in food systems, and to the challenges of commensality in the contemporary context. Knowledge on these professionals’ perceptions is useful to develop health education practices that, by exercising transdisciplinary, consider food as a pedagogical element in the construction of knowledge by critical citizens and for a healthy life.
Keywords
eating habits; health education; school; health care professional; education professional