A comprehensive approach to understanding cooking behavior

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of – and need for – an expanded understanding of cooking (skills and knowledge) to inform research on the connection between cooking and health. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes a concept of “food agency” and contrasts it with how cooking is commonly conceived in food and nutrition literature. A food agency-based pedagogy and proposals for using it are also introduced. Findings Cooking is a complex process that may be crucial for making a difference in the contemporary problems of diet-related chronic diseases. There are two interlinked problems with present research on cooking. First, cooking has yet to be adequately conceptualized for the design and evaluation of effective public health and nutrition interventions. The context within which food-related decisions and actions occur has been neglected. Instead, the major focus has been on discrete mechanical tasks. In particular, recipes are relied upon despite no clear evidence that recipes move people from knowledge to action. Second, given the incomplete theorization and definition of this vital everyday practice, intervention designs tend to rely on assumptions over theory. This creates certain forms of tautological reasoning when claims are made about how behavior changes. A comprehensive theory of food agency provides a nuanced understanding of daily food practices and clarifies how to teach cooking skills that are generalizable throughout varied life contexts. Originality/value This commentary is of value to academics studying cooking-related behavior and public health practitioners implementing and evaluating cooking interventions.

Food Agency in the United States: Associations with Cooking Behavior and Dietary Intake

“…However, evidence regarding the effectiveness of cooking interventions on improving skills, cooking behavior, and diet and health outcomes is limited [11]. "Food agency" is a construct that positions the act of cooking within the myriad factors that influence one's ability (a) to obtain cooking skills and (b) to translate those skills into action within the contexts of one's social, physical, and economic environments [12,13]. Food agency is, therefore, a useful lens for capturing and understanding cooking skills and behavior and how interventions can best promote healthy cooking behavior that reflects the reality of the constraints of daily life.…”

“…Cooking-assembling and transforming ingredients in order to produce a meal-is a complex behavior that requires numerous skills and competencies that relate to the technical act of preparing food and to the ability to plan to cook and provision food within one's food environment, time constraints, budget constraints, and so on [13][14][15]. Cooking also has neither clear definition nor one "correct" set of actions, and the understanding of what it means "to cook" is complicated by the wide range of processed and packaged ingredients and food products available in stores [16][17][18][19].…”

“…Food agency is not based on how competent a person is at a predetermined set of skills or actions; rather, having food agency means being "empowered to act" to achieve food-related goals in the contexts of the organizing structures of one's life [12]. A deeper discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of food agency is available elsewhere [12,13,28]. Despite this intentionally broad conceptualization, it is likely that food agency is closely related to self-perceived cooking and food skills, confidence, attitudes, and perceptions about cooking.…”

Aesthetic judgments and meaning-making during cooking in Home and Consumer Studies

“…Cooking can be understood as "the process of transforming food into socially and culturally acceptable end products: that is, meals or parts of a meal" (Janhonen, Torkkeli & Mäkelä, 2018). Accordingly, cooking skills encompass not only technicalities such as chopping, frying and boiling, but also abilities to organize the process, to read and interpret recipes, and to use the senses to evaluate the qualities of the food (see for example Wolfson et al, 2017;Brunosson, Brante, Sepp & Mattsson Sydner, 2014;. These skills have traditionally been learned through apprenticeship, involving continuous engagement with the physical and sensory qualities of food (Jaffe & Gertler, 2006).…”

Akuntabilitas Pengelolaan Limbah Berbasis Mulat Sarira

“…Praktik akuntabilitas yang dijalankan secara seremonial merupakan konsekuensi dari paradigma empirisme dan rasionalisme yang dikembangkan dari nilai-nilai budaya barat yang sangat bernuansa antroposentrisme (Byrch, Milne, Morgan, & Kearins, 2017). Oleh sebab itu, memasukkan nilainilai moral (Bebbington & Larrinaga, 2014) ke dalam konsep akuntabilitas dipandang sebagai salah satu jawaban atas kegelisahan terhadap kegersangan nilai kebaikan (virtue) dalam perilaku yang akuntabel.…”