Many to many relationship mapping in EF Core

Question

I have a problem with many to many relationship in EF core. I have the following model classes:

public class Meal
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Requ         


        

Answer 1

When you include navigation property, EF Core automatically fills the inverse navigation property, e.g. including Meal.MealFoods will automatically fill MealFood.Meal, including Food.MealFoods will automatically populate MealFood.Food etc. In order to populate other navigation properties you need to use additional ThenInclude. E.g.

var meals = await context.Meals
    .Include(m => m.MealFoods)
        .ThenInclude(mf => mf.Food) // <--
    .ToListAsync();

or

var foods = await context.Foods
    .Include(f => f.MealFoods)
        .ThenInclude(mf => mf.Meal) // <--
    .ToListAsync();