Junk Foods: A Transnational History of Childhood, Diet, and Health in Post-War Europe

This project provides the first integrated history of junk food and childhood health in post-war Europe. It asks how branded snacks, drinks, and fast food became embedded in children’s lives, how they were represented and contested, and how they were remembered by those who grew up with them. By combining archival research with a large-scale digital ethnography initiative, it captures both institutional discourses and lived experiences. The project challenges the assumption that “junk food” is a stable or objective category. From the 1950s onwards, products dismissed by health professionals were often cherished by families as affordable, exciting, or aspirational. What counted as “junk” in one decade or country might be a treat, a convenience, or even a necessity in another. By analysing how such labels were applied, resisted, or ignored, the project reframes present anxieties about childhood diet and health as part of deeper cultural histories. Four national case studies - Britain, Ireland, Poland, and Italy - provide the foundation for a transnational synthesis of products, ideas, and anxieties. Outputs include a monograph, peer-reviewed articles, an open-access archive, and public exhibitions. The project leaves a legacy in scholarship, public engagement, and policy, showing how histories of food illuminate contemporary health debates.