This study explores concerns and dilemmas connected with diet, health and child-feeding in families with ethnic minority background. The aim is to contribute to better targeting of dietary advice to ethnic minority parents in Denmark. Four focus group interviews were carried out with mothers of children between 4 months and 2 and a half years who were descendants of Turkish or Pakistani immigrants. The focus groups investigated: (1) everyday feeding practices; (2) values and concerns behind food choice; (3) social and cultural norms influencing feeding and eating practices; (4) experienced dilemmas in dietary change; and (5) sources of nutritional advice. Public health authorities in Denmark tend to link diet-related health problems among ethnic minority populations with their ethnic identity, dichotomising ethnic and Danish dietary habits. This may overlook values and concerns other than those related to ethnicity that are sometimes more important in determining food habits. The present study found that child-feeding practices were shaped by two main aims: (1) securing and improving child health; and (2) ensuring multi-cultural eating competence in children. The results confirm that ethnic distinctions do matter in the concerns and dilemmas mothers experience when feeding their children, but they also challenge the health authorities' reliance on dichotomies in promoting health among immigrant families. The participants' ethnic self-identification through food practices did not refer primarily to the birthplaces of their parents. Rather, it was context dependent and directed simultaneously towards majority and minority culture. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Health promotion Parental concerns Feeding practices focus groups cultural competency ethnic minorities

information processing Pakistan Pakistani cultural anthropology social competence immigrant health promotion minority group human Health Behavior child nutrition birthplace Denmark Ethnic Groups ethnic group priority journal diet feeding behavior nutritional counseling maternal attitude Cultural Competency ethnology cultural competence Surveys and Questionnaires Humans ethnic difference Minority Groups preschool child female Infant Child, Preschool questionnaire Food Preferences Mothers Article food preference mother adult Turkey Choice Behavior public health problem ethnicity decision making Turkish citizen dietary intake Focus Groups