Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Kitchen Life, 2012, study was designed to investigate, document, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices to generate insights about ‘what goes on and why’ in UK kitchens and inform the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) thinking about reducing the burden of foodborne disease. A key focus of earlier FSA research had been on reported behaviours, but the Kitchen Life study took a different approach, to examine what people do, what they say about what they do and the role of the kitchen itself and its assorted things, technologies and resources (chopping boards, microwaves and cupboards, for example). A qualitative and ethnographic approach was taken to investigate domestic kitchen practices in 20 UK households. The practices of those aged 60+ years and pregnant women were particularly interesting to the FSA as these groups are vulnerable to foodborne illness, so these household types were included in the study. While the study used several methods to collect data, including video observation and photography, only anonymised qualitative transcripts from audio-recorded informal interviews are included in this collection, due to issues of anonymity with the visual data.A later FSA study, Kitchen Life 2, 2021-2022, is held at the UKDS under SN 9227. it used motion-sensitive cameras to explore food safety behaviours in 70 households and 31 food business operator (FBO) kitchens. It also captured data using surveys, interviews, and fridge and freezer thermometers.  

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview