




































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 7(2): 129-133, July 2024 

INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD  
 

Meal-less Mornings for School-going Children: An 
Insight into the Food–Health Interface in the Remote 
Mountain Region of  Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, 
India 
 

Ranjoy Gupta  and Ranvir Singh   

 
1. INTRODUCTION  

Transformations in food systems feature in the current global agenda 
to tackle problems that lie at the intersection of  health, climate change, and 
food insecurity (World Bank n.d.). Food and nutrition insecurity also feature 
in this agenda as important goals. In this context, food intake is presented 
as either subject to food availability/affordability or food preferences. 
However, complex socioeconomic relations at play in specific locales may 
also influence food availability/affordability or preferences. The possibility 
of  such a thesis emerged during a larger study1 on understanding local food 
health knowledge in landscape-based food systems—through interviews 
with several female respondents—wherein the issue of  school-going 
children missing morning meals came to the surface.  

The primary subjects of  this study were school-going children. The study 
site was the remote mountainous region of  Kathua, which is located in the 
Pir Panjal range, Jammu and Kashmir. The data was collected through in-
depth interviews conducted between January and July 2023. The 

                                                      
 Ph.D. candidate, Department of Social Work, Central University of Jammu, Rahya-Suchani 

Bagla, Jammu and Kashmir 181143; Ranjoygupta007@gmail.com.  
 Senior Assistant Professor, Department of  Social Work, Central University of  Jammu, 
Rahya-Suchani Bagla, Jammu and Kashmir 181143; Ranvir.cujammu@gmail.com  

Copyright © Gupta and Singh 2024. Released under Creative Commons Attribution © 
NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of  Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web).  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i2.1288  

1 This refers to the first author’s fieldwork as part of his Ph.D. dissertation, which is in the 
publishing stage. The current paper is an insight developed while collecting data while doing 
fieldwork.   

mailto:Ranjoygupta007@gmail.com
mailto:Ranvir.cujammu@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v7i2.1288


 Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [130] 

participants included eight mother-child pairs (each pair from the same 
household), two shopkeepers, and two doctors, totalling 20 subjects.   

 

2. MISSING MORNING MEALS:2 NUANCE IN A 
MOUNTAINOUS VILLAGE SITE 

“Food is an inseparable part of  our identity, culture, and health. However, 
when it is not taken on time, it leads to severe health consequences.” These 
were the words of  an elderly respondent from the village of  Machhedi in 
Kathua. She added, “Our children have changed their habit of  eating 
morning meals, or they do not eat at all, which is going to lead to serious 
health concerns and a decline in our cultural heritage as well.” 

The main sources of  livelihood in the region are farming and labour. Most 
men, who do not find any source of  livelihood within the village, find work 
outside of  the region while womenfolk take care of  farming, shepherding, 
and domestic work. The village has a primary school as well as a high 
school. Children from villages that are located 5–10 km away also attend the 
high school in Machhedi.  

One of  the respondents said, “Our fields are small, we do not earn much 
from them, so to maintain our livelihood, the male member from our family 
must stay out of  the village for days; some even go daily to the nearest town 
and return during the night. All activities—from household maintenance to 
working on the farm, preparing food for the children, and purchasing 
necessary groceries from the market—must be done by us only. So, we do 
not have time to cook traditional food for our children, as that requires 
more time to prepare.”  

Another respondent reported the following about her daily routine: “After 
waking up, we must collect food for the livestock and fuel for food 
preparation. For this, we must go to the nearest forest by 6:00 am, from 
which it takes around two hours to return. After returning, we must feed 
the animals, clean the home, and start preparing food, which takes another 
hour; only by 9:00 am can we provide food to our children, but by that 
time, they have already left for school. The schools start at 9:30 am, and to 
reach on time, our children must leave early.”  

A subject from another village added, “My girl walks for 7 km daily to reach 
school, and she leaves at 8:00 am to reach school. Her grandmother is at 
home only, but to give her millet, vegetables, or wheat, it takes time to 

                                                      
2 For our understanding, we define “meal” as per locals’ conceptualization: home-cooked 
food, which includes roti, sabzi, and doodh (milk), dahi (curd), or lassi, all taken together.  



[131] Gupta and Singh 

prepare the chulha (stove), knead the dough, and prepare vegetables; by that 
time, she has already left for school.” She further added that the family 
follows this routine for four days a week, but on other days, when they can 
cook and provide meals, the children do not prefer home food. Likewise, 
many other female respondents mentioned that several children from other 
villages walk for about 7–10 km just to reach school.  

In this specific, localized context, due to the excessive burden of  domestic 
and outside work on women, they lack the time to prepare food in the 
morning. Thus, migration of  men driven by the need to earn a livelihood 
can be construed as an indirect reason that contributes to children missing 
morning meals. Another important aspect observed here is the changing 
food preferences among children, to which we turn next. 

 

3. LIFESTYLE, STATUS, AND LOCALIZED ASPECTS 
LEADING TO MISSING MORNING MEALS 

To understand the dynamics of  preference and availability, the respondents 
were asked about the food items available in their homes. One of  them 
said, “[From last night], only milk is available,3 but sometimes, it also gets 
stale due to being kept outside, especially in the summer season.” Other 
respondents added, “Even in other seasons, when it does not smell, our 
children still do not prefer to drink it. On their way to school, they buy 
something from the local grocery store such as biscuits, chips, juice, etc.; 
they do not prefer to consume milk.”  

Children acknowledged their preferences for chips, biscuits, and juice over 
milk. A child reported, “I do not like to drink milk early in the morning; it 
makes me nauseated. I rather eat biscuits, as I can digest them.” Another 
child added, “I started consuming biscuits and juice daily because my 
friends were consuming them.”  

A discussion with a shopkeeper confirmed the children’s statements: “My 
daughter doesn’t eat home food and takes biscuits and juice early in the 
morning despite food being available, because every other child is doing 
so,” he said. A grocery shop owner added, “On average, I sell 50–60 
packets of  biscuits every day in the morning to school-going children.”  

It appears that an aversion to milk—as children reported an inability to 
digest it properly—and other traditional foods in addition to a lack of  

                                                      
3 There were other items kept in stock, such as pulses, grains, and spices, but since they 
require more time to prepare, milk was considered the only item available from last night. 



 Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [132] 

money to purchase commercially available food also plays a role in children 
missing meals.  

The mothers of  these children were asked if  they could afford certain daily 
expenses to take care of  morning meals. They reported that those who 
travel from far-off  villages do not consume anything at all. They walk on 
empty stomachs because they cannot afford to purchase food. One of  the 
mothers shared, “Only children from those families where male members 
stay outside and send good money back home, or which have other income 
sources—like they have a shop or they work as labourers in the village 
only—purchase daily from the shop.”  

When children were asked about how do they feel walking long miles on an 
empty stomach, their response on this matter was interesting:  

We do not care about health as our parents and their parents used to walk 
more than us daily. We do not have any problem walking long miles on an 
empty stomach. We directly have our first meal at mid-day meal in the 
school, which is served at 12:00 pm.  

Doctors from the nearest primary health centre (PHC) said, “These people 
do not educate their children about the importance of  eating food in the 
morning and other lifestyle aspects, and these children feel pride in walking 
as their parents did, but they do not understand that their parents had a 
healthy routine and good quality of  food.” The PHC staff  further argued, 
“It is due to this lifestyle that these children are having problems such as 
gastritis, indigestion, and nutritional deficiencies. It has such an impact that 
many of  them are not able to digest milk, ghee, maize, and other local food 
items, which their parents could easily.” 

 

4. CONCLUSION 

At the outset, reasons such as availability and affordability of  food seem to 
play a significant role in consumption, but the underlying factors are 
specific to different locales. In this study site, more than food availability, 
the lack of  time to prepare food can lead to missed morning meals. This 
can be attributed to the fact that many tasks that are typically performed by 
men—such as collecting fuel and fodder and rearing animals—are now 
done by women, as men have migrated for livelihood reasons.  

Changing food habits and a preference for processed food available in the 
market were the other trends observed in Kathua. However, only 
households of  a relatively better economic status could afford these 



[133] Gupta and Singh 

behaviours. On the other hand, it was noted that walking long distances on 
empty stomachs was a matter of  ‘pride’ among children. 

These findings highlight how meals in mountain regions are affected by 
factors beyond a simple matrix of  economic status and food availability. 
Understanding such local complexities is important to fulfil the larger 
agenda of  food systems transformations.  

Ethics Statement: I hereby confirm that this study complies with 
requirements of  ethical approvals from the institutional ethics committee 
for the conduct of  this research.  

Data Availability statement: No data was used in this paper besides the 
information from the primary survey.  

Conflict of  Interest Statement: No potential conflict of  interest was 
reported by the author. 

REFERENCES 

Ruerd, Romina Cavatassi, Leslie Lipper, E.M.A. Smaling, and Paul Winters. 2021. 
“Towards Food Systems Transformation—Five Paradigm Shifts for Healthy, 
Inclusive and Sustainable Food Systems.” Food Security 13 (6): 1423–30. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01221-4 . 

World Bank. n.d. “Food Systems Transformation.” Washington D.C.: World Bank. 
https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/food-systems-2030/food-systems-
transformation . 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01221-4
https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/food-systems-2030/food-systems-transformation
https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/food-systems-2030/food-systems-transformation

