Different people experience different barriers to cooking at home; one person for example may have problems with food access; another may live next to Tescos, but not have a pan to cook with. Usually it’s a combination of several barrier that hold people back.
Two thirds of the UK’s adult population is overweight or obese, so even though we all want to eat healthier, and we ‘know’ what healthy food is, and that it’s good for you, it doesn’t seem to be enough to motivate us to change our habits. So how does motivation work, if ‘knowing’ about something isn’t enough?
We have always asked people what stands in their way that prevents them from cooking. If we saw a recurring theme, we would figure out a way to deal with it. Over time, we realised these “other reasons” were far more important than actual ability to cook.
Nutrition is an area that is mired with claims and counter claims, and things we thought we “knew” years ago – for example, that margarine is better for you than butter
Banning junk food advertising is a step in the right direction, but when the whole environment is geared towards encouraging bad eating choices, there is a lot more that needs to be done.
Having worked with 4,500 participants in food poverty, and also lecturing medical students on health inequalities that largely arise from poor diets, we are well qualified to speak in this area.
Replicability is the key to scaling. Yet so many interventions are small scale and highly personalised; it takes enormously tailored, intensive interactions to effect change in people who need a high degree of support. We should know.
Talking with our participants has been one of the most important things behind the success of Bags of Taste. We’ve always been really interested in why they are not cooking – we’ve frankly surveyed the hell out of them (our pile of forms is almost 3ft high!!)