COVID-19 & culinary behaviours of Australian household food gatekeepers: A qualitative study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns had a significant impact on Australian food supply, with potential implications for food purchasing, preparation and consumption behaviours. Therefore, we explored Australian primary food gatekeepers' perceptions and responses towards their culinary behaviours during COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. We conducted online semi-structured interviews with 25 Australian primary food gatekeepers. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. We found that the majority of food gatekeepers during the lockdown reported increased home cooking and experimentation in the kitchen, enhanced their food literacy such as cooking skills and confidence, meal planning and purchasing skills, and increased consumption of family meals. However, they also reported less positive outcomes such as increases in snacking and alcohol intake, baking less healthy foods and overall increases in food intake. There is a need to develop comprehensive nutritional programs for Australian primary food gatekeepers to increase their food literacy and confidence in food preparation and cooking. Future research could explore if these newly adopted behaviours positively impact primary food gatekeepers’ dietary behaviours and if these behaviours sustain over time.

Transformation in culinary behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: In-depth interviews with food gatekeepers in urban India

“…The majority of participants reported an increase in the frequency of cooking including the number of meals during the day as all family members were at home and experimentation with different recipes during the lockdown period. This finding aligns with other studies showing an increase in cooking during the lockdown period in other countries, for example in Australia ( Ronto et al, 2021 ), Croatia ( Pfeifer et al, 2021 ), China ( Dou et al, 2021 ), and the United States of America ( Dou et al, 2021 ). This is a positive change for several reasons: the unavailability of domestic help and increased chores led to shared responsibilities of food preparation and home management amongst the family members including children and there was less reliance on take-away food.…”

“…The use of social constructivism framework in the current context proved valuable as it allowed the researchers to investigate the household food gatekeepers' experiences regarding meal preparation, food shopping, and meal planning during COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns in India. The research methodology described here has already been used previously in an Australian context with similar research objectives and study design ( Ronto et al, 2021 ). The SMES's (Seva Mandal Education Society's) Institutional Ethics Committee approved the research protocol for this project in February 2021 (SMES/IEC/125).…”

“…Interestingly, food choice motivations over lockdown were identified amongst families in UK indicating family involvement as one of the key motivators in meal preparation during the lockdown ( Snuggs & McGregor, 2021 ). Increased time spent at home due to flexible ‘work from home’ opportunities and high rates of unemployment have contributed to gravitating towards home cooking as cited in our recently published Australian study ( Ronto et al, 2021 ). However, whether these reasons for increased household cooking are also applicable in the Indian context needs to be verified.…”

“…The practice of home cooking has been ever changing in India witnessing a greater use of dine out and food ordering mobile applications ( Roy & Zain, 2018 ). During the lockdown, Indians ( Basu et al, 2020 ) like other population groups ( Ben Hassen et al, 2020 ; De Backer et al, 2020 ; Murphy et al, 2021 ; Ronto et al, 2021 ) had developed a renewed outlook towards home cooking with available ingredients to suit the needs of all members in a family. Interestingly, food choice motivations over lockdown were identified amongst families in UK indicating family involvement as one of the key motivators in meal preparation during the lockdown ( Snuggs & McGregor, 2021 ).…”

A Study on Dining-Out Trends Using Big Data: Focusing on Changes since COVID-19

“…A study on consumers in the UK by Filimonau et al [17] also showed that the frequency and variety of home cooking increased during the coronavirus lockdown period, and the preference for consuming more sustainable food at home had also increased since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ronto et al [18] investigated that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, confidence in cooking skills as well as the understanding of food, including meal planning and purchasing, had improved, and there was an increasing trend toward dining with family. Bender et al [19] also supported that the amount of food prepared at home had increased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.…”