摘要:T he Food: Now and Then report (SHEU, 2012) makes for fascinating reading and I would hope that these commentary pieces offer, in response, some additional insights, drawing on other research, including qualitative studies, which can provide more depth about the 'why' questions which surveys are often unable to answer. In addition to qualitative work that I have been involved with over the last decade, exploring young people's food and eating practices, this commentary is informed by findings from a new survey module, funded by Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS), which aimed to investigate children and young people's food and drink purchasing behaviours 'beyond the school gate' (Scottish Government, 2011) in 2010; this is the first time such questions have been asked of a representative sample of children and young people in Scotland. The full report will be published by FSAS in summer 2012 (Macdiarmid et al.).