Collective kitchens in three Canadian cities : impacts on the lives of participants

Collective kitchens are defined in a general way as groups of persons who meet to plan, shop for and cook meals, in large quantities. The purpose of this study was to explore the health promotion and food security experiences of collective kitchen members, during and away from collective kitchen meetings. The study used qualitative methods, including semi-participant observation and in-depth interviews to study collective kitchen groups. Between September 2000 and June 2002, a total of 21 collective kitchen groups in Saskatoon, Toronto and Montréal were sampled for maximum variation in terms of: type of participant; structure of the group belonged to; and support at the community and organizational level. Data was collected during prolonged observation throughout group planning and cooking sessions, and by conducting in-depth interviews with participants and group leaders. Additionally, data on the community, and the quality and quantity of organizational support provided to collective kitchen groups in each of the three cities, located in three different provinces, was collected through key informant interviews. Observations were recorded using field notes. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Observation and interview data from each of the three cities were analyzed separately for dominant themes and then integrated together to establish patterns of collective impacts on the lives of participants. Results indicate the benefits of collective cooking are numerous. First and foremost they are social – support and reducing isolation are central themes to collective kitchen participation. Second they are educational – elements include healthy eating and other food-related skills and learning, as well as some political and social education. Third, for some groups, particularly those experiencing less severe food insecurity, collective kitchen participation might increase food security. Additional impacts of participation include some aspects of community development and personal empowerment. While this research discusses many positive impacts of collective kitchens, poverty and community disintegration will not be solved by community programming alone

The community and consumer food environment and children’s diet: a systematic review

Background: While there is a growing body of research on food environments for children, there has not been a published comprehensive review to date evaluating food environments outside the home and school and their relationship with diet in children. The purpose of this paper is to review evidence on the influence of the community and consumer nutrition environments on the diet of children under the age of 18 years

Co-creating an Inclusive and Caring National School Food Program in Canada: Parent and Teacher Perspectives

Report of Study FindingsA study of parent/caregiver and educator perspectives of current and future School Food Programs (SFPs) was conducted in partnership with investigators from McMaster University, University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Toronto and the Coalition for Healthy School Food. The main goal of the study was to understand the preferences, barriers, and facilitators for elementary schools and students to participate in a future national SFP. An online survey was conducted in February-June 2024. It was promoted through Facebook and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board’s (HWDSB) electronic bulletin board to parents/caregivers who have students attending public or Catholic elementary schools (K to 8) in the City of Hamilton or Peel Region. Focus group discussions with parents were conducted in May and June 2024 and five individual interviews with educators employed by the HWDSB were done in April-June 2024. Key Findings: A high proportion of parents/caregivers are willing to participate in a future national school food program (96%) and would be willing to pay some amount for it (77%). The main potential barriers identified were: affordability/cost/accessibility; child food preferences/food waste; time/supervision/organization; food safety and dietary needs/restrictions; as well as food quality and variety. While parents did not agree on how a program should be funded (e.g. free or cost-shared through parent donations to subsidize needier families), they insisted that the food should be healthy, fresh, and diverse enough to accommodate dietary restrictions. Many believed a new SFP could create a more mindful, community environment for student meals and they thought an SFP could be connected to curriculum about food systems and the environment. Their concerns about implementing the program focused on the lack of infrastructure and staff support in schools, and the potential for the program to contribute to excess food waste and litter through single-use containers and cutlery. Teachers interviewed expressed concern about the current poor quality and low quantity of food brought from home to school, which they perceive as getting worse in recent years. Teachers noted that some students regularly bring very little food to school. While they appreciated the Student Nutrition Program, they are concerned that it has been declining in quantity and does not meet their students’ current needs. They are hopeful that a future national SFP could improve the nutritional quality of the food students eat, especially those in food-insecure households, and enhance the learning environment in their classrooms. Teachers voiced similar concerns to parents about the logistical challenges of implementing such a program and emphasized the need for sufficient support staff beyond teachers and volunteers to keep a national SFP sustainable. A series of recommendations flow from a synthesis of these findings and appear at the end of this report.SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant Award Number: 892-2023-101

Social disparities in food preparation behaviours: a DEDIPAC study

BACKGROUND: The specific role of major socio-economic indicators in influencing food preparation behaviours could reveal distinct socio-economic patterns, thus enabling mechanisms to be understood that contribute to social inequalities in health. This study investigated whether there was an independent association of each socio-economic indicator (education, occupation, income) with food preparation behaviours. METHODS: A total of 62,373 adults participating in the web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort study were included in our cross-sectional analyses. Cooking skills, preparation from scratch and kitchen equipment were assessed using a 0-10-point score; frequency of meal preparation, enjoyment of cooking and willingness to cook better/more frequently were categorical variables. Independent associations between socio-economic factors (education, income and occupation) and food preparation behaviours were assessed using analysis of covariance and logistic regression models stratified by sex. The models simultaneously included the three socio-economic indicators, adjusting for age, household composition and whether or not they were the main cook in the household. RESULTS: Participants with the lowest education, the lowest income group and female manual and office workers spent more time preparing food daily than participants with the highest education, those with the highest income and managerial staff (P < 0.0001). The lowest educated individuals were more likely to be non-cooks than those with the highest education level (Women: OR = 3.36 (1.69;6.69); Men: OR = 1.83 (1.07;3.16)) while female manual and office workers and the never-employed were less likely to be non-cooks (OR = 0.52 (0.28;0.97); OR = 0.30 (0.11;0.77)). Female manual and office workers had lower scores of preparation from scratch and were less likely to want to cook more frequently than managerial staff (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001). Women belonging to the lowest income group had a lower score of kitchen equipment (P < 0.0001) and were less likely to enjoy cooking meal daily (OR = 0.68 (0.45;0.86)) than those with the highest income. CONCLUSION: Lowest socio-economic groups, particularly women, spend more time preparing food than high socioeconomic groups. However, female manual and office workers used less raw or fresh ingredients to prepare meals than managerial staff. In the unfavourable context in France with reduced time spent preparing meals over last decades, our findings showed socioeconomic disparities in food preparation behaviours in women, whereas few differences were observed in men

The Interpersonal Skills of Community-Engaged Scholarship: Insights From Collaborators Working at the University of Saskatchewan’s Community Engagement Office

Perhaps more clearly than other research approaches, community-based research or engaged scholarship involves both technical skills of research expertise and scientific rigor as well as interpersonal skills of relationship building, effective communication, and moral ways of being. In an academic age concerned with scientific precision, cognitive skills, quantification, and reliable measurements, the interpersonal skills required for research—and particularly community-based research and engaged scholarship—demand growing importance and resources in contemporary discourse and practice. Focused around the University of Saskatchewan’s Community Engagement Office located in the inner city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the authors draw on over 50 years of collective experience to offer critical reflections on the notion of interpersonal skills in community-engaged scholarship that manifest particularly in place-based contexts of Indigenous community partnerships. Overall, we argue that discourse and practice involving community-engaged scholarship must pay attention to the notion of interpersonal skills in various aspects and across multiple dimensions and disciplines. This approach is crucial to ensure that research is done effectively and ethically, that good quality data are produced from such research, that subtle, systematic forms of micro-aggression and oppression are minimized, and that community voices and knowledge have a meaningful and significant place in scholarship activities

A multilevel intervention to increase physical activity and improve healthy eating and physical literacy among young children (ages 3-5) attending early childcare centres: the Healthy Start-Départ Santé cluster randomised controlled trial study protocol

Abstract: Background: Childhood obesity is a growing concern for public health. Given a majority of children in many countries spend approximately 30 h per week in early childcare centers, this environment represents a promising setting for implementing strategies to foster healthy behaviours for preventing and controlling childhood obesity. Healthy Start-Départ Santé was designed to promote physical activity, physical literacy, and healthy eating among preschoolers. The objectives of this study are to assess the effectiveness of the Healthy Start-Départ Santé intervention in improving physical activity levels, physical literacy, and healthy eating among preschoolers attending early childcare centers. Methods/Design: This study follows a cluster randomized controlled trial design in which the childcare centers are randomly assigned to receive the intervention or serve as usual care controls. The Healthy Start-Départ Santé intervention is comprised of interlinked components aiming to enable families and educators to integrate physical activity and healthy eating in the daily lives of young children by influencing factors at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community, physical environment and policy levels. The intervention period, spanning 6-8 months, is preceded and followed by data collections. Participants are recruited from 61 childcare centers in two Canadian provinces, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Centers eligible for this study have to prepare and provide meals for lunch and have at least 20 children between the ages of 3 and 5. Centers are excluded if they have previously received a physical activity or nutrition promoting intervention. Eligible centers are stratified by province, geographical location (urban or rural) and language (English or French), then recruited and randomized using a one to one protocol for each stratum. Data collection is ongoing. The primary study outcomes are assessed using accelerometers (physical activity levels), the Test of Gross Motor Development-II (physical literacy), and digital photography-assisted weighted plate waste (food intake). Discussion: The multifaceted approach of Healthy Start-Départ Santé positions it well to improve the physical literacy and both dietary and physical activity behaviors of children attending early childcare centers. The results of this study will be of relevance given the overwhelming prevalence of overweight and obesity in children worldwide. Trial registration: NCT02375490 (ClinicalTrials.gov registry)

Food environment research in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic scoping review

Food environment research is increasingly gaining prominence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, in the absence of a systematic review of the literature, little is known about the emerging body of evidence from these settings. This systematic scoping review aims to address this gap. A systematic search of 6 databases was conducted in December 2017 and retrieved 920 records. In total, 70 peer-reviewed articles met the eligibility criteria and were included. Collectively, articles spanned 22 LMICs, including upper-middle-income countries (n = 49, 70%) and lower-middle-income countries (n = 18, 26%). No articles included low-income countries. Articles featured quantitative (n = 45, 64%), qualitative (n = 17, 24%), and mixed-method designs (n = 11, 8%). Studies analyzed the food environment at national, community, school, and household scales. Twenty-three articles (55%) assessed associations between food environment exposures and outcomes of interest, including diets (n = 14), nutrition status (n = 13), and health (n = 1). Food availability was associated with dietary outcomes at the community and school scales across multiple LMICs, although associations varied by vendor type. Evidence regarding associations between the food environment and nutrition and health outcomes was inconclusive. The paucity of evidence from high-quality studies is a severe limitation, highlighting the critical need for improved study designs and standardized methods and metrics. Future food environment research must address low-income and lower-middle-income countries, and include the full spectrum of dietary, nutrition, and health outcomes. Improving the quality of food environment research will be critical to the design of feasible, appropriate, and effective interventions to improve public health nutrition in LMICs

Access and quality of parks and associations with obesity: A cross-sectional study.

Public health is increasingly engaging with multi-faceted obesity prevention efforts. Although parks represent key community assets for broader public health, they may not be distributed equitably and associations with obesity are equivocal. We investigated park access and quality relative to deprivation and obesity with individual-level data from the Yorkshire Health Study. Compared to the least deprived areas, the moderately and most deprived areas had a greater park access and park quality in terms of features and amenities. However, parks in the moderately and most deprived areas also had the most safety concerns and incivilities. Although deprivation was associated with obesity, contrary to current policy guidance, both park access and quality appear less important for understanding variations in obesity within this study. Although sub-group analyses by deprivation tertile revealed that low quality park amenities in highly and moderately deprived areas may be important for understanding obesity prevalence, all other associations were non-significant