Who is cooking at home and how often?
And what can that tell us about a country’s health, economy and environment?
On December 2nd, Gallup held a webinar to present findings from the latest Gallup and Cookpad World Cooking Report. Hosted by Mohamed Younis, Editor-in-Chief at Gallup News, the panel included Dr Psyche Williams-Forson, Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Maryland; Dr Bridget Holmes
Nutrition Officer and Group Leader in Nutrition Assessment at the FAO; and Rimpei Iwata, Cookpad President and CEO. Dr Priscilla Standridge, Research Director at Gallup, presented the key findings from the report.
2020 was the third year of the World Cooking Survey and, of course, it was a year that saw disruption across the world because of the Covid-19 pandemic and each country’s response. A recording of the webinar can be found here and below we’ve highlighted some of the main themes.
The complexity of an everyday activity
While cooking is a daily behaviour shared by billions across the planet, it is also a deeply individual activity that is intertwined with a person’s culture, community and environment. Deciding what is healthy or what is sustainable depends on local and cultural considerations.
The gender gap
Over the three years of data collection, there has been one consistent story: gender inequality. Women undertake most of the cooking worldwide. This is more pronounced in those countries with low gender equality in other areas as measured by the UNDP Gender Inequality Index. The pandemic did not alter this even though in many countries all members of a household found themselves spending more time at home. The wider Gallup World Poll data indicates that the pandemic accelerated inequality with women in particular negatively impacted.
Income and cooking
The wider Gallup World Poll data tells us that one in three people surveyed who had a job during the pandemic said they lost their job or business as a result of the pandemic, and half said their employer paid them less. The lowest income families cooked and ate less frequently. The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on levels of hunger around the world, especially in very low income countries. This means that the world is moving backwards on targets to end hunger.
The transfer of skills
Historically, people learned cooking skills from someone in the family, more often than not as the process was happening. Today that transfer of skills is as likely to come from an online community or social media. This opens up global learning opportunities.
There seems to be a general decline within the formal education system but the potential is there and cooking can be connected to other subjects, for example learning about the environment.
Tracking the types of food eaten
While we know how frequently people are cooking, the data does not tell us what they are cooking and eating. This kind of data is much harder to collect although there is information available from FAO. There are also other factors that can give an indication; for example, the opening rates and density of fast food chains and the sales figures of processed foods.
The importance of knowing who is cooking
The person who cooks in a household makes decisions that affect their own health and also the health of their household. These are decisions that also affect their community, the economy, and the environment. But, as it is unpaid work, it does not seem to be considered by policy-makers. A daily activity done by billions of people has a huge impact. Knowing who is cooking and how to support them is vital to our future.
Cookpad has launched a Research Idea contest for people interested in undertaking further research into home cooking in today’s society. The contest is open to those involved in academic research at a post-doctorate level and offers access to the Gallup World Poll data from 2018, 2019 and 2020 as well as financial support. More information can be found here.
