学校給食の代わりに「コピー弁当」を作るということ : 食物アレルギーの子どもを持つ母親とムスリムの母親への調査から

This study investigated how mothers who make boxed lunches for their children who are “food minorities” came to make them, and how these mothers themselves interpret making boxed lunches daily, based on interviews with mothers of children with severe food allergies and Muslim mothers.
Both mothers of children with food allergies who were refused school lunches due to food restrictions and Muslim mothers made “copy lunches” that faithfully reproduced the school lunch menu without using restricted food ingredients. Making lunch every morning is a big burden for mothers. However, these mothers interpreted making copy boxed lunches positively, saying that since the school lunch menu is well-balanced and includes a wide variety of local and foreign cuisines, it would be easier to use this same menu because it would save them the trouble of thinking about creating a menu from scratch.
In this way, mothers with children who are “food minorities” and cannot eat school lunches positively interpreted the idea of their children bringing their own boxed lunches every day and voluntarily made “copy lunches” that adapted the school lunches, which put an excessive burden on the mothers’ mind and body, as well as the family budget. Despite this, the interview survey revealed that most of the mothers did not openly disclose their hardship to the teachers, but rather, empathized with the busy daily lives of teachers, and they were careful to not be regarded as “monster parents.”