Cooking skills and food insecurity.

Cooking skills play a relevant role in food security, which encompasses the availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability of food. While previous discussions have mainly focused on accessibility, particularly economic access through food prices and income, this article explores the dimensi...

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Main Authors: Diego Monteza-Quiroz, Andres Silva, Maria Isabel Sactic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326435
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author Diego Monteza-Quiroz
Andres Silva
Maria Isabel Sactic
author_facet Diego Monteza-Quiroz
Andres Silva
Maria Isabel Sactic
author_sort Diego Monteza-Quiroz
collection DOAJ
description Cooking skills play a relevant role in food security, which encompasses the availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability of food. While previous discussions have mainly focused on accessibility, particularly economic access through food prices and income, this article explores the dimension of food utilization by analyzing the relation between food insecurity and cooking-related variables. We conducted a survey of 106 low-income households in an urban area of Santiago, Chile. Food insecurity was measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) developed by the FAO. Using principal component analysis, we constructed two indexes reflecting subjective perceptions of cooking skills. We then applied probit models to examine how both subjective and objective cooking skills variables are associated with the probability of experiencing food insecurity. Results show that individuals who can prepare six to ten egg preparations have an 8.4 percentage point lower prevalence of experiencing food insecurity, while those who can prepare more than ten such preparations show a 30.5 percentage point lower prevalence compared to those who can prepare five or fewer. Moreover, our results found a positive prevalence between negative subjective perceptions and food insecurity of 8.8 percentage point. For the first time, this study jointly examines subjective perceptions and self-reported objective measures of cooking skills in relation to food insecurity. We hope this work contributes to expanding the food insecurity discussion beyond economic access and supports the design of food security policies focused on improving cooking aspects.
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spelling doaj-art-58a0d194cb3b4286a70416f1c8b2f1412025-08-20T03:27:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01206e032643510.1371/journal.pone.0326435Cooking skills and food insecurity.Diego Monteza-QuirozAndres SilvaMaria Isabel SacticCooking skills play a relevant role in food security, which encompasses the availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability of food. While previous discussions have mainly focused on accessibility, particularly economic access through food prices and income, this article explores the dimension of food utilization by analyzing the relation between food insecurity and cooking-related variables. We conducted a survey of 106 low-income households in an urban area of Santiago, Chile. Food insecurity was measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) developed by the FAO. Using principal component analysis, we constructed two indexes reflecting subjective perceptions of cooking skills. We then applied probit models to examine how both subjective and objective cooking skills variables are associated with the probability of experiencing food insecurity. Results show that individuals who can prepare six to ten egg preparations have an 8.4 percentage point lower prevalence of experiencing food insecurity, while those who can prepare more than ten such preparations show a 30.5 percentage point lower prevalence compared to those who can prepare five or fewer. Moreover, our results found a positive prevalence between negative subjective perceptions and food insecurity of 8.8 percentage point. For the first time, this study jointly examines subjective perceptions and self-reported objective measures of cooking skills in relation to food insecurity. We hope this work contributes to expanding the food insecurity discussion beyond economic access and supports the design of food security policies focused on improving cooking aspects.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326435
spellingShingle Diego Monteza-Quiroz
Andres Silva
Maria Isabel Sactic
Cooking skills and food insecurity.
PLoS ONE
title Cooking skills and food insecurity.
title_full Cooking skills and food insecurity.
title_fullStr Cooking skills and food insecurity.
title_full_unstemmed Cooking skills and food insecurity.
title_short Cooking skills and food insecurity.
title_sort cooking skills and food insecurity
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326435
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