Abstract
This study aims to explore the positive psychological effects of culinary experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown days. Qualitative research methods adopted to provide a deeper understanding. Data was collected through a structured online survey from 30 participants in Turkey. This occurred between April 10th and June 3rd, 2020 when the strict confinement measures were applied. Content analysis was deductively applied according to the Stebbins’s Theory of Casual vs. Serious Leisure which classifies the well-being according to characteristics of leisure experiences. The results revealed that at the first stage people went into the kitchen with the motivation of pure happiness and relaxation indicating hedonic well-being. However, people who intended to spend time with culinary activities with the expectations of pure happiness left the kitchen with eudaimonic outcomes by gaining special skills and knowledge, self-actualization and self-enrichment. When these outcomes are evaluated based on the Stebbins’s theoretical framework, culinary activities have both casual and serious leisure experience characteristics in terms of psychological well-being. It is understood that culinary activities have versatile leisure characteristics. Thanks to the culinary activities, people do not only obtain pure happiness and relaxation but can draw wider inferences about their life by realizing their own potential during the psychologically challenging COVID-19 lockdown days.
Highlights
The 21st century has already been faced with several outbreaks of viral diseases [e.g., Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), and Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF)]; none of them have resulted in a collective war to save the entire human civilization
Turkey, which is the sample of this research, is one of the countries to be most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
The lack of an effective vaccine to prevent the disease and/or limited medical interventions to treat it caused countries to respond to the pandemic with some non-pharmaceutical interventions. (NPIs) including lockdown, home isolation, voluntary/required/mandatory quarantine, social distancing including vulnerable or whole populations, closing of almost all locations such as schools/universities and non-essential businesses/workplaces
Summary
The 21st century has already been faced with several outbreaks of viral diseases [e.g., Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), and Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF)]; none of them have resulted in a collective war to save the entire human civilization. From December 31, 2019 to November 9, 2021, reported cases of COVID-19 exceeded 103 million including 2,236,453 deaths [European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 2021]. As of February 08, 2021, reported cases of COVID-19 exceeded 2.5 million including 26,900 deaths and over 63,000 active cases in Turkey (Worldometers, 2021). (NPIs) including lockdown, home isolation, voluntary/required/mandatory quarantine, social distancing including vulnerable or whole populations, closing of almost all locations such as schools/universities and non-essential businesses/workplaces This caused the canceling or postponing of events and bans on gatherings of people over specific numbers (Gössling et al, 2020; Kaplan et al, 2020). In 2020 as well as many countries in the world, Turkey applied to the partial and fulltime lockdown measures involving the large part of the society between the dates of April 11, 2020 and June 3, 2020
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