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A Qualitative Case Study on the School Meal Acculturation of Middle Eastern Muslim-background Students and the Mutual Adaptation of School Dietitians: Focusing on School Meal Practices in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon

  • The Journal of Multicultural Society
  • 2026, 19(1), pp.199~246
  • DOI : 10.14431/jms.2026.2.19.1.199
  • Publisher : Research Institute of Asian Women
  • Research Area : Social Science > Social Science in general
  • Received : December 29, 2025
  • Accepted : February 10, 2026
  • Published : February 28, 2026

Lee Jeeyoung 1,  CHONG SANGWOO 1

1인하대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study is a qualitative case study that focuses on school meal settings in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, as a single local case of analysis. It examines in depth the school meal culture adaptation of Middle Eastern Islamic Migrant Background Students and the mutual adaptation processes of school dietitians, drawing on Berry’s acculturation process and mutual acculturation theory. The students initially experienced anxiety, conflict, and exclusion due to the cultural gap between halal food culture and Korean school meals, but gradually achieved positive adaptation through vegetarian-based integrated meals, considerate practices, and processes of trust-building. The study shows that cultural adaptation is not a one-sided change imposed on minority students, but a dynamic process in which school dietitians and the school community actively communicate, strive to understand each other’s cultures, and shape change together. School dietitians, negotiating between student needs and institutional constraints, expanded mutual cultural understanding by developing substitute meals and strengthening communication and education. These processes indicate that the issue goes beyond simple differences in eating habits and concerns questions of cultural identity and human rights, and the study recommends the establishment of clear and sustainable multicultural school meal guidelines at the levels of local education authorities and schools, the expansion of menus that enable integrated meals, and the construction of systematic education and communication systems involving students and parents.

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