The received wisdom about adolescents is that they are plump junk-food consumers with no inclination to eat with their families or skills for cooking except by microwave. Some jokes on the subject are: "They're afraid of nothing, except a healthy meal", "They don't know which side their bread is peanut- buttered on" and "They want to save the planet but not wash the dishes."

According to the School Food Trust, 64% of adolescents "go without prepared school meals" and overmore thanhalf don't eat – at least not every day – the amount of fruit and vegetables that their parents or the government tell them they should.

Adolescence seems as much about food as anything, possibly more so. The physiological and psychological developments between ages 10 and 18 are dependent on nourishment and often played out in food's presence – not just while lying in bed with a laptop watching Come Dine With Me, but with every food choice, food obligation, food disorder, food discovery or food joy. Dependence and independence, body and mind, and past and future are wrestled with on the plate and the palate.

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