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Research examining children's and young people's food and eating practices has become more common place in recent years. Qualitative methods can be useful in such sense-making research, where an individual's narrative is likely to involve complexity, contradiction and ambiguity. Speaking and writing about food and eating can offer participants of all ages and most abilities the opportunity to delve into their own world of practice. Commonly used methods, like the individual interview and focus group, whilst suitable for studies of this kind, are not without their drawbacks. There are important ethical issues concerning children's privacy and their right not to reveal 'too much' to the researcher or their family. Innovative methods which deserve greater consideration include audio diaries, memory work/books, email interviews and interviews 'on the move'. All offer the researcher the opportunity to build rapport with and collect narratives about food and eating from children and young people.

Food insecurity is a public health issue in Western countries, including the UK. Being food-insecure means older adults may not access sufficient nutritious, safe, and socially acceptable food, leading to a higher risk of malnutrition. We conducted a qualitative study of 25 households with men and women aged 60–95 years to investigate how older adults access food and to explore social capital, which might contribute to food security or prevent malnutrition. We conducted participant-led kitchen tours, interviews, photo, and video elicitation across multiple household visits. In addition, we brought stakeholders together from a range of sectors in a workshop to explore how they might respond to our empirical findings, through playing a serious game based on scenarios drawn from our data. This was a successful way to engage a diverse audience to identify possible solutions to threats to food security in later life. Analysis of the data showed that older people's physical and mental health status and the local food environment often had a negative impact on food security. Older people leveraged social capital through reciprocal bonding and bridging social networks which supported the maintenance of food security. Data were collected before COVID-19, but the pandemic amplifies the utility of our study findings. Many social elements associated with food practices as well as how people shop have changed because of COVID-19 and other global and national events, including a cost-of-living crisis. To prevent ongoing adverse impacts on food security, focus and funding should be directed to re-establishment of social opportunities and rebuilding bridging social capital.

This article discusses the development and use of the solicited unstructured diary-interview method to explore the everyday tacit and mundane nutrition information activities (NIA) of people who have type 2 diabetes. Diary completion was followed by individual qualitative interviews with individuals (n = 18) and one couple. Diary entry styles ranged from succinct daily logs of their NIA to extensive prose reflecting on the nutrition information they used and associated practices. Development of the method incorporated piloting and advice from lay groups who checked acceptability and understanding of the research tools, and highlighted the need for regular contact between the researcher and participants throughout the diary completion phase. Participants engaged positively with the diary approach. The findings highlight the extent to which the everyday NIA is mundane and thus unavailable for academic exploration. The diary-interview method exposed these practices to both the researcher and participant, and supported them to reflect on the practices they engage in every day in order to self-manage their type 2 diabetes. Although this article draws on an example from health, the article demonstrates how the diary-interview method has utility for researchers exploring other everyday tacit and mundane experiences.

AbstractIn 2013 the Mediterranean Diet was recognized by UNESCO as anintangible cultural heritageof Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco. Conviviality – the pleasure of eating together – was recognized as the cornerstone of food culture in the region. Although the concept ofcommensalityhas been explored widely in the literature, studies onconvivialityand convivial dining are almost non‐existent. This review explores the concept of conviviality and its significance in relation to the Mediterranean Diet. It draws on sociological and anthropological literature to define conviviality and to address the perceived benefits of eating together as well as the social constraints on pleasurable meals. The paper draws upon the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his ideas of Habitus, Field and Cultural Capital, examining how these concepts relate to pleasurable eating and conviviality. It offers an interdisciplinary perspective on who and what makes conviviality happen and the potential obstacles to the experience and promotion of convivial dining.

This paper examines how young teenagers living in socio-economically disadvantaged families perceive everyday food and eating practices within the home. From in-depth interviews with 36 Scottish teenagers aged 13-14 years, we analysed teenagers' accounts of contemporary 'family meals'. We found that food and eating practices were negotiated amidst complex family arrangements with extended, resident and non-resident kin. Parents were often reported to provide food 'on demand', a flexible arrangement which seemed to reflect both teenagers' and parents' lifestyles and personal relationships. Teenagers often contested the consumption of particular foods which sometimes reflected and reinforced their relationship with a biological or non-biological parent. Teenagers could differentiate themselves from others through their food preferences and tastes and food consumption therefore helped shaped their identity. Many teenagers claimed that parents set rules regarding food and eating, thereby creating boundaries within which their consumption choices had to remain. We discuss whether and how these findings are a reflection of the socio-economic status of the participating families and conclude that exploring food and eating practices is a powerful lens for the examination of family life.

Understanding everyday social practices is challenging as many are mundane and taken for granted and therefore difficult to articulate or recall. This paper reflects on the challenges encountered in a qualitative study underpinned by current theories of practice that incorporated visual methods. Using this approach meant everyone in a sample of 20 household cases, from children through to adults in their 80s, could show and tell their own stories about domestic kitchen practices. Households co-produced visual data with the research team through kitchen tours, photography, diaries/scrapbooks, informal interviews and recording video footage. The visual data complemented and elaborated on the non-visual data and contradictions could be thoroughly interrogated. A significant challenge was handling the substantial insight revealed about a household through visual methods, in terms of household anonymity. The paper reflects on the challenges of a visual approach and the contribution it can make in an applied sociological study.

Not enough is known about the relationship between socio‐economic deprivation and places where young people purchase food at lunchtime on a school day. This paper draws on qualitative data from 600 + young people aged 13–15 years and illustrates that socioeconomic factors form boundaries that young people have a feeling for when buying food. This informs where they seek out lunch (at school or in local food outlets) and what products, service and prices they access and find acceptable. Such insights help to understand why inequalities in young people's health and eating practices prevail.

This article discusses the use of autonomous, asynchronous, timelines to analyse personal and organizational experiences of COVID-19 using an online platform, LucidSpark. We evaluate the benefits and limitations of this approach and highlight findings in three areas: aesthetics, the balance of personal and organizational information, and the identification of key events. We argue that timelines generate fascinating data about participants' personal and professional experiences of COVID-19. Then, we discuss the limitations of the data, and suggest how the method may be refined and used in combination with other approaches. By themselves, timelines provide limited data about how events relate to each other. Instead, timelines serve as useful pre-interview activities that should be combined with additional methods.

Obesity is a global epidemic affecting all age groups, populations and income levels across continents. The causes of obesity are complex and are routed in health behaviours, environmental factors, government policy and the cultural and built environment. Consequently, a Whole System Approach (WSA) which considers the many causes of obesity and shifts the focus away from individuals as points of intervention and puts an emphasis on understanding and improving the system in which people live in is required. This protocol describes a programme of research that will: critically evaluate the evidence for WSAs; assess longitudinally the implementation of a WSA to diet and healthy weight to explore the range of levers (drivers) and opportunities to influence relevant partnerships and interventions to target obesity in East Scotland. The programme consists of four workstreams within a mixed methods framework: 1) Systematic review of reviews of WSAs to diet and healthy weight; 2) Longitudinal qualitative process evaluation of implementing two WSAs in Scotland; 3) Quantitative and Qualitative momentary analysis evaluation of a WSA; and 4) the application of System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) methodology to two council areas in Scotland. A Public Involvement in Research group (PIRg) have informed each stage of the research process. The research programme's breadth and its novel nature, mean that it will provide valuable findings for the increasing numbers who commission, deliver, support and evaluate WSAs to diet and healthy weight nationally and internationally.