Household dietary gatekeepers' perceptions of home cooking and its associated factors: A qualitative inquiry from urban India.

The high consumption of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor meals from out of home sources has been identified as a potential risk factor for the growing burden of obesity and diet-related chronic degenerative diseases among urban Indians. Consumption of home cooked meals is linked with positive dietary and health outcomes. However, little is known about the views of Indians regarding home cooking. Therefore, this investigation was designed to qualitatively explore urban Indian nutritional gatekeepers' perceptions of home cooking and the factors influencing it. The social constructivism theoretical framework was employed to inform this qualitative investigation. A purposive sample of 34 household dietary gatekeepers (28 women; 6 men) from the Kolkata metropolis participated in face-to-face/telephonic interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted in English/Hindi/Bengali (translated to English where necessary), digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic analysis was employed to code the transcripts in the NVivo software program. Emerging themes and sub-themes were: (i) Home cooking is a duty; (ii) Facilitators of home cooking (Home cooking is good for health; Home cooking is economical; Preservation of dietary heritage; Home cooking is a source of happiness); (iii) Barriers to home cooking (Paid employment outside the home; Health issues associated with ageing; Limited culinary skills); (iv) Transformation in home cooking; (v) Decline in home cooking; (vi) Acquisition of cooking skills; (vii) Cooking skills are a necessity. These themes have the potential to inform the creation and development of public health policies and interventions aimed at stimulating home cooking for positive dietary and health outcomes. Future research should focus on developing family-based and school-based cooking interventions to inculcate culinary skills in children and adolescents. In addition, government could levy tax on ultra-processed convenience foods to minimize their utilization as well as subsidize sales of raw food ingredients to encourage 'cooking from scratch' using fresh and basic food ingredients.