Brazilian Cooking Skills Questionnaire evaluation of using/cooking and consumption of fruits and vegetables

Barriers to home food preparation and healthy eating among university students in Catalonia

Despite college being a critical life stage for developing enduring healthy dietary behaviours, Spanish university students show poor adherence to a healthy diet. Since research has shown an association between home cooking and healthy eating, the aim of this study was to analyse the main barriers that influence home food preparation and healthy eating among students at three Catalan universities. Focus groups, the photovoice technique and a validated questionnaire were used. Six focus groups (10 female; 14 male; aged 18-22) were conducted. NVivo9, was used to analyse the transcripts using an inductive thematic analysis. In two focus groups, the photovoice technique was used to further explore their perceptions about a healthy diet and their barriers for home cooking and healthy eating. The validated questionnaire was sent out to obtain data on students' diet quality, food environment and cooking self-efficacy for the focus group's design. We found that lack of motivation was the main barrier to healthy eating and home cooking, which was further influenced by the lack of cooking self-efficacy. Young adults lacked the knowledge and skills to prepare quick, affordable, and nutritious meals. Hence, even lack of time was cited as a primary barrier, time constraints seemed to be related to personal priorities. Students did not feel motivated to eat healthy and adopt time-deepening behaviours that influence food-choices. Thus, further research is required to develop context-specific culinary interventions that enhance students' cooking self-efficacy and identify strategies for encouraging students to adopt healthier eating habits.

Low Cooking Skills Are Associated with Overweight and Obesity in Undergraduates

Culinary skills are defined as the confidence, attitude, and the application of one's individual knowledge in performing culinary tasks, and their development may be associated with better diet quality and better health status. This study aimed to analyze the association between cooking skills, overweight, and obesity in undergraduates. This is a descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study, with data collected between October 2020 and March 2021, with undergraduate students (n = 823) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Participants answered the online Brazilian Cooking Skills and Healthy Eating Questionnaire Evaluation, BCSQ, which included socioeconomic information. Logistic regressions were used to assess the associations of cooking skills with overweight and obesity. From the total of the students, 70.8% were female, with a median age of 23 (21-30) years; 43.6% were with overweight or obesity; 48.8% were eutrophic; and 7.7% underweight. Overweight and obesity were significantly associated with low levels of culinary self-efficacy and self-efficacy in the use of fruits, vegetables, and seasonings in the bivariate analysis. The logistic regressions showed that living with other people and eating out were associated with higher chances of overweight and obesity. Sharing the responsibility for preparing meals and a high self-efficacy in the use of fruits, vegetables, and seasonings were associated with lower chances for overweight/obesity. Overall, our study showed that overweight and obesity were associated with lower cooking skills in the studied undergraduates. Therefore, the study demonstrates that culinary skills can be explored in educational programs that aim to reduce overweight/obesity in students.

Meal preparation and consumption before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: The relationship with cooking skills of Brazilian university students

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to analyze meal preparation and the place of its consumption by university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to their individual characteristics and cooking skills.

METHODS

Data were collected with 1919 Brazilian university students using the Brazilian Cooking Skills Questionnaire (BCSQ) and questions about gender, living arrangement, knowing how to cook and location of meal consumption. Bayesian multilevel ordinal regression models were used to estimate the probabilities of meal preparation and local location of its consumption by Brazilian university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to their individual characteristics and cooking skills.

RESULTS

Most of participants showed reported a high level of cooking skills (70.7%). Also, they reported a decrease in ordering delivery of take-away food and eating fast-food, while increasing homemade meals with fresh ingredients, ultra-processed food or both during the pandemic compared to the period before the quarantine. Lastly, they increased their cooking frequency during the pandemic, regardless of their cooking skills level. However, the group with high cooking skills had a greater increase in the use of fresh ingredients.

CONCLUSIONS

The study showed that the pandemic was an opportunity for university students to increase their cooking skills and frequency of cooking at home with a variety of foods. Particular attention should be given to those with low cooking skills and that use ultra-processed foods, promoting interventions to disseminate information and with behavior change components to teach about healthy cooking to increase cooking knowledge and skills, focusing on preparation of fresh ingredients.