Domestic cooking and Food Skills: an island of Ireland perspective

Introduction: The skills required to prepare food can impact on the choices made by consumers and the healthiness of their diet. Consumers’ increasing reliance on convenience or pre-prepared food and the increase in eating outside of the home environment has led to the demise of cooking skills1-4. This study provides an overview of cooking and food skills and their impact on consumers’ diets of those living the island of Ireland*.

Methods: A three stage mixed methods study was implemented. Stage one included a nationally representative survey (n=1049) to measure cooking and food skills. Stage two explored the barriers and facilitators to cooking using focus groups (n=16). Stage three involved an experimental study (n=141) to explore how consumers learn cooking skills using technology.

Results: Survey results revealed that men, younger adults and those with few or no qualifications were reported to have low cooking and food skills usage and confidence. Greater perceived cooking skills and food skills were not conclusively associated with healthier dietary choices. Focus Group results revealed nine barriers and five facilitators to cooking from scratch. Cooking from scratch cooks highlighted the facilitators to outweighed the barriers. Stage three results found that video technology promoted cooking skills in a number of ways,

namely: visualisation, reassurance, replication, flexibility and selectivity of the cooking process.

Conclusion: Overall, results suggest that enjoyment and confidence are key components of learning new cooking and food skills and the intention to put the learned skills into practice in the future.