Food-related Practices Research Articles

Ritual Meals of Chaṭha: Exploring Gastronomical Activities in a Religious and Festive Setting

Festivals and rituals have been pivotal for transmitting and preserving cultural values, with food assuming a central role in these communal observances. This study delves into the intricate interplay between culinary practices, cultural identity, and religious expression by examining the Hindu festival of Chat.ha. The investigation centers on the multifaceted nature of Chat.ha. By closely examining the processes of procurement, preparation, offering, and consumption of ritualistic foods during the festival, this research looks into how these gastronomic traditions contribute to fostering a sense of unity, highlighting cultural heritage, and intertwining between religious beliefs and societal norms. Exploring the culinary landscape of Chat.ha unveils the profound religious and sociocultural dimensions inherent in food-related practices, emphasizing how the daily act of sustenance transforms into a bridge for religious connection and collective bonding. Based on our fieldwork in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), and Sahibganj (Jharkhand), we document several aspects of the festival food of Chat.ha and how they offer a window into the many culinary customs of societies, emphasizing the connections between food and cultural identity, interpersonal interactions, and religious beliefs.

Ecomuseums in the Mediterranean Area and the Promotion of Sustainable Food Systems

In recent years, the growing interest in food as a central component of heritage preservation has been paired with a reflection on the sustainability of food systems. At the same time, place-based food governance has undergone processes of hybridization, opening up to a wider range of stakeholders. We argue that ecomuseums can positively contribute to the promotion of sustainable food systems that can preserve cultural heritage without undermining the development of healthy food systems. To discuss this hypothesis, we conducted an exploratory study to assess the current diffusion and food-related practices of ecomuseums in the Mediterranean area. Integrating the information of existing databases with online research of new institutions, we mapped a large sample of ecomuseums and carried out a Web Content Analysis. The main results of the research are a geolocalized map of Mediterranean ecomuseums and their activities and an index assessing their capacity to engage users on relevant topics through their webpages. The results highlight the existence of an unbalanced distribution of experiences, and the potential for growth, especially in the east and south of the Mediterranean countries.

Risk it for a biscuit: Food safety behaviours and food insecurity of older adults

Foodborne disease presents a significant public health issue, costing the UK economy £9 billion annually, with many incidences being due to food-related behaviours in the home. Adults aged 60 and over account for around a quarter of the population in England and Wales and are at a greater risk of foodborne disease and may suffer a much higher burden. Research into risky food behaviours has previously focused on larger cohorts and typically treats the over 60's as one homogenous group. The current paper aims to identify the characteristics associated with risky food-related practices related to cooking, cleaning, chilling, cross-contamination, and use-by date adherence. The current research analysed data from the Official Statistics survey, Food and You 2: Wave 6 (2022–23). A series of binary logistic regression models examined the characteristics associated with risky food-related practices. We demonstrate that the characteristics associated with risky behaviours are not uniform, with different factors being associated with specific behaviours. We suggest that risky behaviours cannot be targeted efficiently with a one size fits all approach. This research provides an evidence base for policy makers to target risky food behaviours in this understudied vulnerable group.

Enhancing dietary adherence among African-American adolescents: the role of parenting styles and food-related practices.

Parenting styles (PSs) and food-related parenting practices (FPPs) play a crucial role in shaping adolescent eating behavior. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the different PSs and FPPs of African-American families and the frequency of consumption of MyPlate food items by adolescents based on recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). This study used a cross-sectional design. Data collection was conducted using Qualtrics through an online survey of 211 African-American parents and their adolescents aged 10-17-year-old. Adolescents completed the Youth and Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess their dietary behavior, while parents filled out the survey to identify the degree of PSs (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, setting rules, and neglecting) and FPPs (i.e., monitoring, reasoning, copying, and modeling). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and stepwise logistic regression were performed to determine the answers to the research questions. For fruit consumption, authoritative parenting significantly reduced the likelihood of adherence to DGA, while authoritarian, monitoring, and reasoning practices increased it. Female adolescents were more likely to meet fruit intake recommendations, with a similar positive impact observed for those whose parents had above high school education. In vegetable intake, authoritarian and monitoring practices positively impact on adherence to DGA, whereas setting rules had a detrimental impact. Being in a married household also increased vegetable intake DGA adherence. For grain consumption, reasoning was a significant positive predictor, while setting rules negatively impacted adherence. Dairy DGA adherence was positively impacted by monitoring and copying practices, but negatively impacted by female gender. Protein intake showed a positive association with reasoning and parental education. Our findings confirm the importance of parenting in developing desired eating behaviors among African-American adolescents. The results of this study can be used to develop culture-based nutritional education programs for parents and youth.

Understanding interrelated practices and their climate-related consequences: exploring food, mobility and housing in everyday life

Everyday lives are made of many practices, often more intricately intertwined than recognised. Fundamental practices, like how we eat, move around and live, have profound impacts on the climate and adaptability towards sustainable societies. While the impacts of these practices in isolation may be well understood, the interrelatedness of how these practices foster, constrain or change one another has been scarcely examined. In response, this paper serves a dual purpose. First, to empirically demonstrate a relationship between food-, mobility- and housing-related consumption. It does this by investigating shared practices among young adults living in Denmark. Findings reveal that home location plays a significant role in prefiguring mobility- and food-related practices. Mobility-related practices, like the daily route or mobility mode, adapt to the home’s location, while grocery shopping is conveniently integrated into daily commuting routes. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence of how certain practices not only influence but often prefigure other practices within the context of everyday life. The second purpose of this paper is to reflect on the climate-related consequences of these interdependent practices. The location of the home creates a locked-in situation for various daily practices, such as commuting and grocery shopping, influencing the degree of climate-friendly consumption. For instance, longer commutes resulting from housing relocation may lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, or the availability of climate-friendly food products is contingent on the grocery stores near the home’s location. This empirical knowledge highlights how policies targeting food, mobility or housing can have far-reaching effects in multiple consumption domains.

Foodways and culinary identity in Iranian-American memoirs

ABSTRACT The current study aims at exploring the issue of foodways in three Iranian-American memoirs, namely, Gelareh Asayesh’s Saffron Sky, Firoozeh Dumas’ Funny in Farsi, and Davar Ardalan’s My Name is Iran (Ardalan). With this in mind, it adopts subject positioning theory and discourse analysis to examine the connectivity between food and religion, culture, economy, individual and collective gastronomic memories, urban and rural food habits, and ethnicity and, specifically, how the Iranian-Americans position themselves and others through food-related practices. The results indicate that food practices and multiple subject positions are constructed and (re)-constructed in religious, ethnic, cultural, economic, gendered, local, national, and transnational contexts. Despite the dominant mainstream and dominated ethnic culinary, Persian and American foodways can live with each other on the same sofreh. Accordingly, in these memoirs “home” is not a nostalgic space but a “feeling at home” in a double sense.

Indigenizing Food System Planning for Food System Resiliency

Problem, research strategy and findings Planners conduct community food assessments for the purpose of supporting community food security efforts. However, assessments of community food assets, including their availability and access, are often limited in their consideration of ecological and cultural assets that are central to Indigenous food systems. Moreover, what are considered mainstream food assets may not reflect the everyday lived experiences of Indigenous peoples and traditional food sources. In this study we applied a citizen science–led photovoice food assessment, involving six Indigenous participants from Kitselas (Ts’msyen) First Nation in Canada. Using practice theory, the findings show how Indigenous concepts of relationality and reciprocity are intertwined in land-based food-related practices, which highlights the need for a holistic approach in documenting and planning around local food assets. Takeaway for practice The field of planning needs to respect and support Indigenous food sovereignty in planning policies. We recommend a more inclusive approach to community food assessment in planning, understanding how cultural food assets matter, and increasing community support to revitalize Indigenous food systems in culturally relevant ways.

Re-Imagining Urban Wetlands: Watery heritage and food policies in the Albufera de València

Urban food policies require interdisciplinary research and action. Based on a holistic vision, these policies aim to facilitate the transformation of the food systems of cities in a sustainable, equitable and resilient manner. Food availability is key to urban food policies and involves recognition of the widespread disconnect between agriculture and consumers and the central role that food-related practices can play in the transition towards sustainable and resilient cities. This article addresses this topic by investigating the strategic role of one area of urban wetlands that has fostered new positive and shared attitudes towards watery heritage. The recovery of waterscapes in the Albufera, in close proximity to one of the most rapidly expanding Spanish urban areas, València, has allowed for a remarkable improvement of both traditional fisheries and paddy fields that has facilitated the regeneration of sustainable food practices. In 2019, the Horta de València, comprising a system of fields extending over a 28 km² area that is irrigated by the Túria River, was recognised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). The area includes the historic Huerta and a section of the Albufera National Park that still maintains elements of traditional Arab heritage. The Albufera is thereby a significant repository of watery memories related to fisher people, peasants and sailors that an increasing number of environmentalists and seaside tourists interact with, and it thereby exemplifies the nature of wetlands as knowledge resources that can inspire sustainable food practices and policies.

Everyday reconciliations of ‘foodyism’ and meat alternatives

Meat alternatives may play an important role in sustainable food transitions. However, numerous barriers to the increased consumption of these products have been identified. This paper explores the consumption of meat alternatives in relation to ‘foodyism’, understood here as contemporary discourses and practices of gourmet food glorifying ‘exoticism’ and ‘authenticity’. Foodyism can be viewed as a relevant cultural barrier to the increased uptake of meat alternatives, especially due to its adherence to the notion of authenticity. The paper argues that the cultural and symbolic tension between foodyism and meat alternatives must be sufficiently resolved if meat alternatives are to play a key role in sustainable food transitions. Accordingly, inspired by practice theoretical approaches in consumption research, and based on an analysis of qualitative data collected in Finland in 2020 through an online questionnaire (N=448, of which 49 were included in the final analysis), the paper focuses on describing the reconciliation of foodyism and meat alternatives already evident in the food-related practices of food practitioners. The performances of reconciliation described in this paper are characterised by ‘looking beyond individual ingredients’, ‘laborious and skilful cooking’, and the meanings of home food and creativity. The results suggest that the ways of ‘doing foodyism’ may be changing in the wake of the current ecological crises, and the paper argues that the new patterns are worth advocating in efforts to advance the practical and symbolic acceptance of meat alternatives.

Making sense of (un)sustainable food: creation of sharable narratives in citizen-participating farming

There has been broad recognition that current food systems need to go through a process of transformation and transition. In the similar way that other areas have transitioned to be more sustainable, the transition process for food systems has some issues related to justice in terms of achieving more sustainable and inclusive food production, distribution and consumption. Acknowledging the importance of these issues, this article aims to understand how knowledge about desired changes is produced and shared among people engaged in activities to transform food production and consumption. To this end, it analyses the short narratives of urban citizens in Japan engaged in participatory farming, adopting the concepts focusing on the contrasts embedded in the short stories, learning from risk studies. The farmer, volunteer staff members and urban citizens collaborate to grow rice using traditional techniques. Their narratives reveal some contrasts in how they used to engage with food, farms and the local environment, and their engagement now. Furthermore, it was observed that these citizens reconfirm the importance of knowledge learned through actual work on the farm and the different roles played by the farmer, volunteers and local participants in creating and passing on knowledge. In such ways, people’s interaction leads to the creation of shared meanings of “appropriateness” in terms of existing and emerging food-related practices. This matter of meaning-making for “appropriateness” is often overlooked in the discussion of the justice in food systems’ transitions.

Household meal planning as anticipatory practice: The role of anticipation in managing domestic food consumption and waste

Food waste is a major contributor to various environmental problems and food wasted at the household level makes up a significant proportion of the overall estimated totals. Fundamental questions remain about this waste as an aspect of domestic consumption and the appropriate policy response. Deficiencies in household food planning have been posited as a potential factor related to food waste production in the home, but this has not been developed in a way which connects clearly to existing sociological studies of meal planning. This paper therefore engages with feminist literature on domestic meal planning and material culture approaches to food waste. It moves the concept of anticipatory practice to the domestic space, to address forms of domestic meal planning and other food-related practices as anticipatory practices which are inherently oriented to the future. The paper draws on a number of semi-structured interviews, research diaries, and images completed and submitted by participants to highlight the establish meal planning practices as anticipatory, and to identify other forms of anticipatory practices around food. As part of this, the association of additional food in the home with food waste is also questioned and practices such as batch cooking are reassessed along with related practices. Meal planning is ultimately described as an anticipatory practice, a broader designation of organisational practices involved in food consumption which may be relevant for policy and research concerning food waste reduction.

Examining the associations between mothers' motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors, food parenting practices and perceptions of their child's food responsiveness

Based on the Self-Determination Theory, this study examined: 1) how mothers' autonomous and controlled motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors relate to their food parenting practices, and 2) whether and how child food responsiveness (i.e., reactivity and attraction to food) interact with mothers' motivation to predict maternal food parenting practices. Participants were 296 French Canadian mothers of at least one child aged between 2 and 8 years old. Results of partial correlation analyses (controlling for demographics and controlled motivation) showed that maternal autonomous motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors was positively related to autonomy-promoting (i.e., child involvement) and structure-based (i.e., modeling, creating a healthy environment, monitoring) food parenting practices. In contrast, controlling for demographics and autonomous motivation, maternal controlled motivation was positively associated with food-related practices based on coercive control (i.e., the use of food to regulate the child's emotions, the use of food as a reward, pressure to eat, restriction for weight reasons, and restriction for health reasons). Furthermore, the child's food responsiveness was found to interact with mothers' motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors in the prediction of maternal food parenting practices such that mothers with high autonomous motivation or low controlled motivation were found to react with more structure-based (i.e., creating a healthy environment) and autonomy-based (i.e., child involvement) practices, as well as less controlling practices (i.e., the use of food to regulate the child's emotions), to a child who is highly responsive to food. In conclusion, findings suggest that guiding mothers toward developing a more autonomous and less controlled motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors might help them adopt more autonomy-promoting and structure-based and less controlling feeding practices, especially with children who are highly responsive to food.

Performing and Decolonizing Food-Related Practices: First International Festival of Gastroperformance in Bogotá, Colombia

Performing and Decolonizing Food-Related Practices: First International Festival of Gastroperformance in Bogotá, Colombia

Co-creative research for transitioning toward a fair and sustainable agri-food system in Brussels, Belgium

After decades of urbanization and agricultural industrialization, the relationships between cities and their agri-food systems have been profoundly transformed, especially in developed countries. To make agri-food systems more sustainable the pressing need to rethink food-related practices in cities has received momentum in the past 20 years across many European cities. Transdisciplinary and participatory research can generate knowledge and promising solutions to facilitate the transition of urban agri-food systems. This article highlights the contributions of six research projects driven by the notion of “co-creation” research for urban agri-food system transition, using Brussels as the research context (program “Co-Create”). The article outlines the main research foci and characteristics of the six “Co-Create” projects funded by this call, how they are embedded in the broader dynamics and initiatives of Brussels, and the theoretical foundations of the notion of “co-creation” research that sits at the intersection of transdisciplinary and participatory action research. Subsequently the paper illustrates how the six Co-Create project brought together different actors in Brussels including researchers, citizens, associations, and government agencies, that were united with a shared awareness of the need for change of the city's agri-food system. The six research consortia targeted different issues across three aspects of the agri-food system: agricultural production in urban areas, food distribution and marketing, and accessibility and democratization of sustainable food. We critically reflect on some common insights generated by the six projects, and particularly (a) a series of recommendations that were drafted for public authorities and called for the acceleration and strengthening of efforts for urgent changes in the agri-food system of Brussels, and (b) findings that address the epistemological and methodological strengths and limitations of conducting co-creative research processes to facilitate agri-food system transition. We also discuss how the Co-Create projects might have created a historical momentum that has encouraged the placing of the transition of agri-food systems on the political agenda of Brussels, and by identifying future challenges for agri-food system transitions in Belgium.

Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal

Background: Understanding people’s awareness on snakebite management would be highly beneficial to develop strategic program at local levels of Nepal. We aimed to identity snakebite incidence, general awareness and beliefs of people regarding snakebite management in rural communities.
 Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Budhiganga Rural Municipality from September to November 2022 among 245 households. Ethical clearance was taken from institutional review committee of Birat Medical College. Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS software ver. 2025 were used for data analysis.
 Results: Annual snakebite incidence rate was 2332 per 100000 populations. Majority (71%) could not identify biting snake and attended traditional healers (70%). Among study participants, 25% had false belief that banded krait is not poisonous. Various false beliefs on snakebite first aid management were reported such as use of tourniquet (81%), washing bite sites (53.47%), cutting bite site (52%) and so on. Further, prevalent false beliefs on food-related practices were snake drinks milk (85.31%), giving victim water following the snakebite was beneficial (47%), giving chilly to those bitten was beneficial (41.63%) and so on.
 Conclusion: Despite the existing burden of snakebites, people are not aware about the correct ways to manage them and were still attending traditional healers as a means of treatment. The mis beliefs about snakebite first aid management are very much prevalent.

Opportunities and barriers for food intake in older age - a Norwegian perspective.

The ageing processes occur slowly over time and are often not detectable by the individual. Thus, preparing for dietary needs in later years should start at an earlier age than most people realise. This study aims at better understanding what characterises food-related practices in active, home-living older adults, in order to identify food-related factors that act as barriers and those that promote healthy ageing. Three experiments were conducted: First, a web-based quantitative survey to collect information about home-living older adults' food-related behaviours (67+ years, N = 1,005). Second, two focus groups with respondents 67-74 years (N = 7) and 75-84 years (N = 6) to elicit aspects not adequately covered in the survey. Third, 10 individual interviews to provide in-depth insights. Two distinct groups were identified in the survey; 67-79 years and 80+ years. The older age group experienced more barriers and restrictions in food intake and food-related behaviours compared to the younger group. Good taste, routines and social settings were important for appetite and food intake. Using a mixed-methods approach proved valuable for extracting information and a better understanding of what impacts on food-related aspects amongst older adults. Strategies for upholding a healthy food intake involve establishing daily routines and meeting arenas where older adults can socialise and eat food together. This study confirmed that knowledge of older adults' physical needs, barriers and abilities must be a part in preparation for a healthy diet.

Food Insecurity and COVID-19 Food-Related Perceptions, Practices, and Problems: A 3-State Descriptive Study.

To compare food insecurity (FI) risk and food-related COVID-19 infection risk perceptions, practices, and problems (3P) in Washington (WA), New York (NY), and Louisiana (LA). Data from the RAPID Multi-Wave Risk Perception Study was collected via online surveys between May 19 to July 14, 2020 (N = 1260). Multivariable - adjusted logistic and ordinal regressions were performed for odds of FI risk and 3P during these early months of the pandemic. The determinants of FI risk in all states included income, age, and employment. Some determinants were state-specific: households with members at substantial risk for COVID-19 (WA and NY), ethnicity (NY), education, and relationship status (LA). The odds of FI risk were higher among those who perceived higher likelihood of COVID-19 infection via in-store shopping (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.70) and improperly cooked food (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.46, 2.41). FI risk was associated with higher odds of problems related to food affordability (OR = 10.66, 95% CI: 7.87, 14.44), preference (OR = 2.51, 95% CI: 1.86, 3.39), sufficiency (OR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.96, 3.54), food sources (OR = 7.68, 95% CI: 5.73, 10.31), food storage capacity (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.66), and knowing where to find help in obtaining food (OR= 7.68, 95% CI: 5.73, 10.31); most of which did not differ by state. No association was found between food insecurity risk and food-related practices. Better food preparedness is needed to reduce FI risk during pandemics in specific groups in WA, NY, and LA. Specifically, food affordability, sufficiency, and storage, as well as sources, and increasing knowledge on food programs are limitations that need to be addressed for emergency situations.

The role of cooking practices in the transmission of the foodborne parasite Taenia solium: A qualitative study in an endemic area of Southern Tanzania.

The pork tapeworm Taenia solium is a zoonotic food-borne parasite endemic in many developing countries causing human cysticercosis and taeniosis as well as porcine cysticercosis. It mainly affects the health of rural smallholder pig farmers and their communities, resulting in lower health status, reduced pork quality, and economic loss due to condemnation of pigs or low pricing of pork. This qualitative study aimed to identify key food related practices linked to consumption of pork at village level, of importance for transmission of taeniosis. We used an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm in a multiple case study of exploratory qualitative research design. Data was acquired through guided and probing interviews with 64 pork cooks, and 14 direct observations in four villages in a T. solium endemic area of Mbeya Region in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The study showed that the informants were members of communities of practice through their pork cooking practices, one community of practice for the restaurant cooks and one for the home cooks, learning, sharing, and distributing their cooking skills. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the pork cooks generally had some awareness of there being something undesirable in raw pork, but they had very diverse understandings of what it was, or of its potential harm. Major potential transmission points were identified in restaurants and in home kitchens. It appears that the pork cooks act according to socio-cultural and economic factors guiding them in their actions, including pressure from customers in restaurants, the family values of tradition in the home kitchens, and the culturally guided risk perception and appraisal. These practices might generate potential transmission points. Future research on interventions aimed at preventing the spread of T. solium taeniosis should recognise the importance of tradition and culture in risky food practices.

The refrigerator as a problem and solution: Food storage practices as part of sustainable food culture

The aim of this paper is to explore how household food storage practices over time relate to environmental conditions and issues and how this has affected the practices and food culture. Through a bricolage of personal accounts, advertisements, magazine articles and kitchen guidelines, I use Sweden as the empirical example. Departing from the introduction of domestic refrigeration until today, I give particular attention to how different societal actors have framed refrigerated food storage as both solution and problem in relation to issues today linked to environmental sustainability, for example local climate conditions, energy consumption, depletion of the ozone layer and food waste. The paper also shows how people refigure the materiality of past storage to fit into modern-day life. The results, I argue, illustrate how food storage, as a culinary infrastructure, influence daily food practices and thereby understandings of sustainable food. The refrigerator and freezer have had a big impact on food culture. Hence, to encourage more sustainable food practices societal actors need to address and problematize culinary infrastructures and the ideas and values these convey regarding food and sustainability. The paper contributes with a cultural historical approach to how food related practices and infrastructures over time interlinks with different ideas of sustainability.

Mothers' experiences of their own parents' food parenting practices and use of coercive food-related practices with their children

The current research examines the relationships between mothers' experiences of the ways in which they were provided food as a child, their current eating behaviours, and their use of coercive food parenting practices with their own child. Mothers (N = 907 (M = 37 years, SD = 7.7)) completed an online/paper survey that included validated measures of food parenting practices and eating behaviours. Regression analyses show that mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child, and their current eating behaviours are significant unique predictors of engagment in coercive food-related parenting practices with their child. Exploratory mediation analyses further show that the relationship between mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child and use of coercive food-related parenting practices with their child is partially mediated by mothers' eating behaviours. The findings indicate concordance between mothers' experiences of being provided food as a child and use of the same coercive food-related parenting practices with their child. Furthermore, maternal experiences of food-related parenting practices as a child are the strongest predictors of use coercive food parenting practices with their own child. There may be value in focussing on the food-related experiences mothers had as a child in addition to their existing eating behaviours prior to food-related parenting practice intervention. Longitudinal research is needed to strengthen the current findings and to further understand the links identified.