About food We all need food to live. But food does more than keep us alive. It provides the energy we need to ensure that our bodies work efficiently, and provides the essential protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals which are needed for healthy development.
Food also fulfils other important social functions.
Family meals and sharing food with friends can be enjoyable aspects of life. However, social change means that family meals are now far less common in the UK than they were in the past, and some people think they will die out entirely in the next century. Children can compare eating patterns in their own households and consider who tends to shop, prepare food, wash up, etc. The places where we buy our food have changed dramatically in the UK in the last 50, or even 20, years. Eighty five per cent of the money spent on food is now spent in supermarkets.