Brazilian adolescents’ food and beverages choices during school break: The Brazilian school meal program or food from other establishments?

The purpose of this study was to identify the adolescents’ food preferences during school break. This was a qualitative cross-sectional study with 83 adolescents from a public school in the city of S?o Paulo. The participants answered the following question: During the school break do you usually eat or drink something? Please justify your answer. The adolescents’ answers were analyzed through a Brazilian qualitative technique called Discourse of the Collective Subject. The ideas were: School Meal Program (36.2%), don’t eat anything (26.7%), bring from other establishments (20.1%) and drink water or juice (17.1%). The adolescents who chose the School Meal Program claimed they had no other options. On the other hand, the participants who refused the meal did so because they disliked it and as a result brought snacks from home or food markets. The Discourse of the Collective Subject helps the investigator to understand the ideas related to food and nutrition of a collectivity.