The question of access to food has three components: physical access to food, financial access to food and access to information about food. This study explores the issue of financial access to food. The affordability of food is a major consideration for consumers, an important marketing tool for retailers and a principal theme in food policy. Research methods included a comparative shopping exercise (shopping basket analysis) in 109 stores across four towns (two urban and two rural) in Northern Ireland. Store type included multiples (major supermarket chains) and symbol group stores (those stores operating under a franchise from one main buying group). Results indicate that in the main it is cheaper to buy from the multiples, shopping from a symbol group store can incur cost penalties of up to 39.4% above the multiples’ prices. Price disparities, analysed using z‐scores, were apparent between towns and across store types. Similarly, an availability audit of foodstuffs portrayed the multiples as the most comprehensive from which to shop, whereas symbol group stores fared poorly in the availability of fresh green vegetables, carcass meat and wholemeal breads. This is an important issue because it plays an integral part in the health inequality debate and also relates to social exclusion. Fundamentally, financial access to food impinges upon the whole question of food‐purchasing behaviour in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability. Therefore, economic access to food can be used as a useful precursor to a comprehensive analysis of food access in its entirety. It is also useful as an indicator of social exclusion. This study seeks to inform and influence the food policy debate.

This study examines the role of video technology in the development of cooking skills. The study explored the views of 141 female participants on whether video technology can promote confidence in learning new cooking skills to assist in meal preparation. Prior to each focus group participants took part in a cooking experiment to assess the most effective method of learning for low-skilled cooks across four experimental conditions (recipe card only; recipe card plus video demonstration; recipe card plus video demonstration conducted in segmented stages; and recipe card plus video demonstration whereby participants freely accessed video demonstrations as and when needed). Focus group findings revealed that video technology was perceived to assist learning in the cooking process in the following ways: (1) improved comprehension of the cooking process; (2) real-time reassurance in the cooking process; (3) assisting the acquisition of new cooking skills; and (4) enhancing the enjoyment of the cooking process. These findings display the potential for video technology to promote motivation and confidence as well as enhancing cooking skills among low-skilled individuals wishing to cook from scratch using fresh ingredients.

This paper draws upon the concept of recreancy to examine the mental well-being of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Briefly, recreancy is loss of societal trust that results when institutional actors can no longer be counted on to perform their responsibilities. Our study of mental well-being and recreancy focuses on the role of universities and government regulators within the education sector. We surveyed 600 UK students attending 161 different public higher education providers in October 2020 during a time when many UK students were isolated in their residences and engaged in online learning. We assessed student well-being using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (scored 7–35) and found the mean score to be 19.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 19.6, 20.2]. This level of well-being indicates that a significant proportion of UK students face low levels of mental well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicates that high recreancy—measured as a low trust in universities and the government—is associated with low levels of mental well-being across the student sample. While these findings are suggestive, they are also important and we suggest that government and university leaders should not only work to increase food and housing security during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also consider how to combat various sector trends that might intensify recreancy.

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The objective of this review was to examine the methods used to measure food insecurity (FI) globally, to inform considerations relating to adopting a novel, or reviewing an existing, FI measurement approach in developed countries. Considerations for measurement are examined with particular applicability to the United Kingdom (UK) which has recently announced adoption of the US Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) as an indicator to facilitate annual FI monitoring. This study uses a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) methodological approach to systematically review the literature on FI measurement and considers: geographical jurisdiction, methodological approach, sampling strategy, FI indicator(s) used, and implications for measurement. Results found that the majority of papers reviewed emanate from North America with the US Household Food Security Scale Module (HFSSM) and its various adapted forms being the most commonly reported indicator. FI is becoming a key concern within developed countries with a range of indicators being used to report on the severity of the issue. This paper provides a contribution to knowledge by: (i) identifying various approaches to FI measurement and commonalities of existing measurement approaches; (ii) providing a summation of the methodologies and findings of studies relating to FI measurement, and associated implications for measurement, (iii) providing a justification evidenced by the literature for the adoption of the HFSSM in the UK; and (iv) assessing the methodological usefulness of a REA review. Understanding the components of robust FI indicators and their effectiveness can help inform existing and novel measurement approaches to ensure that data collected on FI are meaningful and thereby useful to inform future policy work in this area. Paper type: Literature review Introduction Food insecurity (FI), defined as "a situation that exists when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life" [FAO 2017, 107], is often considered a developing world problem (Kneafsey et al. 2013). However, an increased research focus on identifying and understanding FI in developed countries such as Canada (e.g. Faught et al. 2017), Australia (e.g. Butcher et al. 2018), the United States (US) (e.g. Bowen et al. 2019) and the UK (e.g. Dowler and Lambie-Mumford 2015), has proved this phenomenon is not exclusive to developing nations. Despite acknowledging the gap between the scale and severity of those living in developing market economies who experience severe poverty, hunger and starvation, and those defined as food insecure who live in 'developed market economies', Riches (2011, 769) rationalises the importance of discussing food insecurity in developed market economies on the same level as that in developing countries as the statistics are cause for concern, with 49 million people in the US defined as food insecure, and 43 million at risk of food insecurity in the EU (Riches 2011).Originally, th...

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