COOKING FOR ONE - UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING DOMESTIC FOOD PRACTICES OF RURAL ILLINOISANS WHO LIVE ALONE

The primary goal of this study is to understand how living alone in rural settings impacts thehousehold food meanings, values and practices of individuals in diverse social positions. Itssecondary goal is to better understand how cooking and eating work to connect, or fail toconnect, diverse individuals to their families and communities.Encompassed in these goals are the following five objectives:Objective One: Discover North American cultural values surrounding cooking for one.Objective Two:Identify how these values are interpreted, enacted and challenged by people in their daily food practices.Objective Three:Assess the implications of single-living specific food meanings, values and practices forthe dietary health of people who live alone.Objective Four: Determine what role social inequalities, life course stages and rural living conditions playin mediating the effect of living alone on cooking, and with it, health.Objective Five: Identify how people who live alone build and maintain social relationships through.cooking and eating.