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1. Introduction
For most contemporary families living in or near populated cities and towns in Canada and other industrialized nations, commercially prepared meals can be easily obtained in a variety of ways. In grocery stores, ready-to-heat meals reside in the freezer aisle, and ready-to-eat hot or cold meals can be found in the deli. Families can also have ready-to-eat meals served to them in restaurants, bring them home as take-out or even have them delivered. During the work or school day, cafeterias, cafés or street vendors may also play a role in providing commercially prepared meals to family members. With commercially prepared meals being readily available and, for most if not all families, relatively affordable why bother cooking a meal at home?
At a minimum, home cooking requires meal planning and food preparation skills, access to kitchen equipment, time and money to shop for ingredients, and more time to transform a collection of food ingredients into a meal that the family will enjoy - not to mention the time and effort involved in cleaning up afterwards. Considering the effort and expense required for home cooking compared to the convenience of commercially prepared meals, why is it that families continue to cook meals at home? What is the significance of home cooking both within families and beyond the family unit?
The small body of research literature on domestic cooking suggests that home cooking is important primarily because of its positive influence on health and nutrition ([6] Chenhall, 2010b). For example, there is some evidence that cooking programs positively change individual food practices over the short term ([3] Canadian Diabetes Association, 2010; [5] Chenhall, 2010a; [32] Stead et al. , 2004; [34] Wrieden et al. , 2007) resulting in such benefits as an increase in vegetable and fruit consumption, and cooking from basic ingredients. As well, including hands-on cooking activities as part of nutrition education programs like Cooking with a Chef have shown the potential to increase cooking self-efficacy and improve the availability and accessibility of produce at home ([26] Michaud et al. , 2007). Also, a US survey of young adults, ages 18-23, found that those who reported frequent food preparation were more likely to meet dietary guidelines for fruit, calcium and vegetable consumption ([23] Larson