Abstract
Dietary trends and changing lifestyle patterns have been associated with the increasing occurrence of obesity in the Western world. These dietary trends are commonly studied using longitudinal food consumption surveys. An alternative to studying changes in eating behaviour may be found in recipe analysis of traditional cookbooks. Few such studies exist, however, and it is unclear whether dietary trends over time can be identified this way. The present paper analyses full-meal recipes from a traditional Dutch cookbook between 1950 and 2010. The selected recipes show an increase in energy density. Additionally, the protein weight per kcal increased. In general, the observed trends are similar to those identified by the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey. The analysis therefore suggests that traditional cookbooks can be used as an indicator to identify dietary trends over time, although further studies are necessary to support this hypothesis.
Highlights
Dietary trends and changing lifestyle patterns have been associated with the increasing occurrence of obesity in the Western world
The increasing occurrence of obesity in the Western world has led to studies analysing the changes in dietary patterns of the population over time
In Europe, the overall energy intake and the consumption of meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts and oils increased between 1961 and 2004, while changes in the intake of other food groups differed between Northern, Central and Mediterranean Europe[3]
Summary
Dietary trends and changing lifestyle patterns have been associated with the increasing occurrence of obesity in the Western world. An alternative to studying changes in eating behaviour may be found in recipe analysis of traditional cookbooks Few such studies exist, and it is unclear whether dietary trends over time can be identified this way. As an alternative to studying changing dietary patterns through nutritional surveys, cookbook recipes could provide an indication of the types and quantities of foods consumed at the time of publishing. This raises the question whether recipes in a Dutch cookbook reflect the observed changes in dietary patterns in the Dutch context In this brief report we compare recipes from a traditional Dutch cookbook over the period from 1950 to 2010 based on their nutritional content and we discuss the trends observed in this analysis in relation to those found by the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (DNFCS)
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