Cooking Skills, Eating Habits and Nutrition Knowledge among Italian Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic: Sub-Analysis from the Online Survey COALESCENT (Change amOng ItAlian adoLESCENTs)

Abstract

Background: Cooking skills (CS) have the potential to improve self-care behaviours and healthy development among adolescents. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected lifestyles worldwide, and the present study aims to investigate the level of CS after the pandemic, as well as its associations with nutrition knowledge and eating behaviours among a cohort of Italian adolescents.

Methods: We submitted an online survey about lifestyle changes to students aged 13-21 years during the pandemic. Based on overall culinary abilities, we divided respondents into high, medium and low CS. Worsening or improvement in diet quality was detected by assigning an eating habit index (EHI; 0-54).

Results: Out of the 1686 questionnaires collected, 21.5%, 63.6% and 14.9% reported high, medium and low CS, respectively. The EHI scores were statistically higher among students who were able to cook more than 20 recipes compared to those reporting no cooking abilities (30.2 ± 5.9 vs. 26.6 ± 5.7; p = 0.0001). High CS significantly correlated with better EHI (OR 1.44; p = 0.009), lower consumption of ultra-processed food (OR 1.80; p < 0.0001) and better nutrition knowledge (OR 1.42; p = 0.007).

Conclusions: Adolescents with good CS showed better nutrition knowledge and healthier eating habits, including lower consumption of ultra-processed foods. Projects aimed to improve CS in adolescents can therefore promote healthier development.

Keywords: adolescent; cooking skills; food skills; healthy eating; lifestyle medicine; nutrition knowledge; ultra-processed food.

Figure 1

Meal condivision and management: (a) The evaluation of meal management showed that since the beginning of the pandemic, the students had lunch must of the time with the whole family (27.5%), with a parent or guardian (23.9%), or alone (21.8%). As for dinner, most of the students ate with the whole family (54.1%), with both (21.5%) or with one of parents (14.9%). (b) Changes in meal preparation. Before the pandemic, in 72.2% of the cases, mothers prepared the meals and 8.1% the students themselves. After the pandemic, the number of mothers involved in meal preparation was reduced to 60.6%, while the number of adolescents who cooked themselves more than doubled (17.3%).

Figure 2

Cooking skills description: (a) The percentage of students who stated that they could cook from 1 to 9 dishes is 47.6%, from 10 to 19 dishes 23.3% and 20 or more dishes is 22.6%; (b) Since the beginning of the pandemic, 55.6% of the subjects stated that they had acquired some cooking skills, 25.6% that they had acquired several cooking skills, while the remaining population reported no cooking skills acquisition (12.7%) or they answered “I don’t know” (6.2%); (c) According to these answers population was divided into High CS (21.5%), Medium CS (63.6%) and Low CS (14.9%).

Figure 3

Correlation between EHI and cooking skills. Adolescents who were able to cook more than 20 recipes had an EHI of 30.2 ± 5.9, which was significantly higher than those who had no CS, who reached an EHI of 26.6 ± 5.7 (* p = 0.0001).