Food has increasingly become an important aspect of teachers’ work in both the formal and informal curriculum and life of schools Given this, how might we best prepare teachers with the knowledge and skills to teach about food given that this work in teacher education is relatively unmapped. Research has revealed that there is a disproportionate emphasis on interventionist logics of nutritional knowledge, for instance ‘healthy canteens’ or lunch box activities and ratings (Gibson & Dempsey, 2015; Pike, 2014). There is also a strong likelihood that pre service teachers also gravitate toward preventative discourses prior to starting their teacher education coursework. This is despite the presence of other food knowledges, for example food studies, the cultural culinary industry, social media, gardens to name a few. This mix creates a challenge for teacher educators and teachers alike. This presentation then draws on a case study of an undergraduate education unit titled Food, health and wellbeing taught by the author of this paper as part of a teacher education course at an Australian University. The case study is situated by firstly drawing on a review of literature and an audit of Australian teacher education course maps. Secondly, an overview of the pedagogical approach developed in response to the literature review is provided. This entails methods designed to disrupt reductive tendencies of ‘un/healthy’ food promotion through deliberate assessment and fieldwork activities. Thirdly, the case study reports on an analysis of 30 reflective diaries that were submitted by students at the end of the unit. These were structured reflections with weekly set questions. The analysis provides insight into how the students engaged with the the methods and provocations. Discourse analysis in line with previous research (Welch & Wright, 2011) was utilised to theme the responses in relation to the grid of (food and nutritional) interpretation. This was theoretically informed by Foucault’s notion of dispositif (Foucault, 1980). Some of the coded themes included the purpose of food education, technology and food pedagogies, critical inquiry, health promotion, medicalised food, food security, culture and politics of food, food identity and digital media and food and sustainability. The findings demonstrate the limited links that pre-service teachers initially made upon beginning the unit in relation to food and health beyond moral aspects of behaviour change. From this analysis, insight into the challenges and potential for teacher education to broaden students food knowledge base are outlined.

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