Cooking at home during the pandemic: a study with Brazilian universities.
COVID-19, university students, professors, cooking, home cooking.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic began in Brazil in 2020, and the first wave took place between the end of February and the beginning of December. In the context of the virus proliferation, it was necessary to adopt social distancing and home confinement. Despite the negative consequences, the determination to stay at home has brought some favorable lifestyle changes. In addition, with the need for distancing and social isolation in Brazil, food establishments (bars and restaurants) were closed, precluding eating out, thus causing increased cooking in the domestic environment. Objective: To evaluate factors associated with changes in cooking at home during the COVID-19 pandemic for Brazilians. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study from an umbrella project entitled "Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and eating behavior of students and professors of Higher Education Institutions: a cohort study". The non-probabilistic sample included students and professors older than 18 from higher education institutions in the five regions of Brazil. The data were collected between July and August 2020 (the first pandemic wave) through the virtual platform Survey Monkey. The outcome variable of this study was the change in cooking before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The exposure variables included demographic conditions (sex, age, race, and student or professor), socioeconomic (education of the household head, income), nutritional status (self-reported weight and height, and BMI), eating behavior (concern for preventing diseases through food, comfort food, and consumption of ultra-processed foods) and food security (Brazilian Food Security Scale). The statistical analyses were performed with the R software, version 4.1.0. Pearson’s chi-square test was applied to describe the characteristics of the study sample and to test the associations of interest, and a prevalence ratio was calculated for categorical data. Results: Of the 4,220 participants in the study (professors and students), 57.4% started cooking more during the pandemic, and 7.8% did so less frequently in the same period. The results of the adjusted model indicated a positive association between the increase in cooking and female sex, higher education of the household head, and being a professor. Male participants with less schooling of the household head cooked less. Conclusion: Finally, it was observed that there was an increase in cooking at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially for women with higher education. And decreased cooking among men and heads of households with low education.