A new study conducted by NC State sociology professors found that although family bonding over a home-cooked meal is idealized in cultures around the world, made-from-scratch cooking is not practical for many families.
Associate Professors of Sociology Sinikka Elliott and Sarah Bowen have been working on this research, which was partially funded by the USDA, for the past five years.
“We’ve been hearing a lot about this ideal of a home-cooked meal,” Elliott said. “It’s often presented as ideal, so if you care about your family’s health, you should be doing this. We found that trying to achieve this ideal took a lot of time—which families don’t have a lot of these days—and took resources which families are feeling pretty crimped on right now.”
Elliott said the researchers interviewed middle-, working- and lower-class families about the struggle to provide both meals and family time for their children.
“So, we have working-class, poor, and middle-class families in the study, and all of them talked about lack of money to purchase the produce they prefer, or to cook the way they prefer, and so for working-class and poor families, this is more about not being able to buy perishable items—fruit, produce—because they couldn’t get to the grocery store regularly.”
The research found that middle-class families were not inclined to think perishable foods were financially out of reach, but they often wanted to substitute non-organic for the pricier organic produce and substitute traditional produce for goods that were locally sourced and seasonal, which put increased pressure on their food budgets.
Ansilta De Luca, an NC State alumna who worked on the project, said the researchers found families who were struggling to meet their nutritionally recommended averages of fresh produce every day.
“The area was food-insecure and lacked access to any kinds of fresh foods,” De Luca said. “Most food stores were convenience and corner stores. Food Lions and Harris Teeters were farther away and more difficult for families to get to on a daily and even weekly basis.”
Elliott said pressure for parents, especially mothers, to spend more time with their children while providing healthy, home-cooked meals, is pouring in from many media sources due to rising concerns surrounding childhood obesity.
“[Studies] show that starting around the 1990s, as more women began working, you also saw this increased pressure on mothers to do mothering perfectly, to spend a lot of time with your kids,” Elliott said.
While data shows Americans today spend less time cooking, American parents as a whole are spending more time personally engaged with their children than they were 40 years ago, according to Elliott.
“A lot of that has been trickled down to ‘we need to cook from scratch more,’ or ‘we need to reinvigorate the family meal,’ or ‘families need to carve out time’ because it is an important part of family life and of child health,” Elliott said. “So what we argue is, while that sounds lovely and we are not disagreeing with that, it doesn’t make sense for the realities of most family’s lives.”
Elliott said the community should get involved to help solve many problems families are facing. She suggests supporting food trucks, such as the global markets that deliver to rural communities.
Getting school lunch programs involved by making healthy meals kids could take home to their families and setting up community kitchens where meals could be prepped for the surrounding community to take home are some additional ways families could provide quality meals without stressing about time, Elliott said.
“Everybody has the right to food, and somewhere along the way residents of Southeast Raleigh lost the right to healthy fresh food and have been forgotten about,” De Luca said. “They need help to revitalize their neighborhoods and have equal access to fresh and healthy food every day. The awareness and education was key in this research.”
