Cooking using social media: young Brazilian adults’ interaction and practices
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 2 January 2024
Issue publication date: 15 March 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study explored how Brazilian young adults who cook interact with cooking-related content on social media and how such content fits their cooking routine.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were transcribed, inductively and reflexively thematic analysed.
Findings
Interactions happened both in recreational and intentional ways, which coexisted and alternated depending on participants' motives and schedules. Recreational interactions such as browsing and saving happened more for self-entertainment and to some participants, to help meal planning and food shopping. Intentional interactions such as searching and sharing happened to fulfil specific needs which arised on cooking occasions, leading to agency development. Young adults who self-identified as being less experienced in cooking reported checking and comparing many recipes, as well as relying on video features to improve skills and develop self-efficacy. Despite showing agency in cooking-related matters, participants perceived lack of time to cook as an important barrier to cooking more. Intentional interactions with cooking content were linked to more established cooking routines, indicating the importance of social media to young adults' development of self-efficacy and improvement of skills.
Originality/value
The use of social media to search for cooking-related content is recommended by Brazilian dietary guidelines to develop cooking and food skills, but research on if and how the interaction occurs, and the resulting knowledge is put into practice, is scarce. This study addressed this gap and proposed practical implications to inform the development of interventions employing social media to improve young adults' cooking skills and health.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Newton Mobility Grant Scheme 2015 [Award Reference: NG150026.2 to Moira Dean and Giovanna Medeiros Rataichesck Fiates], the UK Academies Fellowships Research Mobility, and Young Investigator Awards for UK Researchers in Brazil FAPESC/CONFAP/FUNDO NEWTON [Call No 02/2017;3 to Moira Dean and Giovanna Medeiros Rataichesck Fiates]; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) in the form of scholarships [Finance code 001] to Anice Milbratz de Camargo and Alyne Michelle Botelho. Founding sources had no role in study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Citation
Camargo, A.M.d., Botelho, A.M., Dean, M. and Fiates, G.M.R. (2024), "Cooking using social media: young Brazilian adults’ interaction and practices", British Food Journal, Vol. 126 No. 4, pp. 1405-1428. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2023-0607
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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