Centre for Policy on Ageing



The meal as a gift - the meaning of cooking among retired women
Author(s)	Birgitta Sidenvall, Margaretha Nydahl, Christina Fjellström
Journal title	Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol 19, no 4, December 2000
Pages	pp 405-423
Keywords	Cooking ; Food preparation ; Older women ; Qualitative Studies ; Sweden.
Annotation	The aim of this qualitative interview study was to delineate the meaning for 63 retired single or cohabiting Swedish women of preparing, cooking and serving meals. The whole procedure of preparing a meal could been seen as doing something for others, or as preparing a gift. Four phrases were identified: finding out what to serve; cooking with fresh ingredients; presenting the gift in a beautiful manner; and enjoying the gift in commensuality. Cohabiting women continued to enjoy cooking as they had done before retirement, as long as their strength was maintained. For widows, especially those who had recently lost their spouse, the whole meaning of cooking and eating was lost, and for these women, there is a risk of poor nutritional intake. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-001213203 A
Classmark	YKH: YKF: BD: 3DP: 76P
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.