As the coronavirus pandemic dominated the thoughts and actions of many, social distancing allowed us to spend more time at home. The desertion of public spaces in our bid to stay safe also meant that families had to adopt an eating-in approach to daily sustenance.
A week-long survey conducted between April 13 and 20 revealed interesting food-related behaviours among the Maltese. The responses of 317 individuals allowed for a better understanding of any shifts brought about by the social distancing measures on various food-related activities. The online questionnaire asked participants to compare their current cooking and eating habits with those prior to COVID-19, seeking information about their cooking practices, ingredients, recipes, use of social media, and more.
Similar to other international studies, the Maltese have also taken to the kitchen during the early weeks of the social distancing period. While 20 per cent of the participants indicated that they spent the same amount of time in the kitchen as before the pandemic period, 78 per cent of respondents spent more time in the kitchen.
Forty-seven per cent of participants indicated they are spending more time preparing food for consumption while another 28 per cent claim to have been spending much more time preparing food relative to the pre-pandemic period.
Participants were asked to indicate the impact of their food preparation practices on five related human behaviours. For 71 per cent of those that participated in the survey, cooking became a safety valve, an outlet to release fears and anxieties.
With entire families at home all day, and work and school routines disrupted, the loss of daily routine contributed to an increased level of anxiety. While individuals deal with such situations in different manners, some studies indicated an element of uncertainty, influencing the quantity and the quality of consumption.
Meal planning presented various challenges, including the added pressure due to the need to reduce the shopping frequency to minimise unnecessary exposure. Seclusion did not help with having to have regular supplies and a variety of these to appease the tastes of all members of the family. Although during the early days some Maltese resorted to stockpiling, the reassurance of adequate reserves helped ease some of the worries that dominated the fear and angst.
During the first five weeks of social distancing, the majority of the respondents experienced a sense of uncertainty and felt the loss of control over normal daily behaviours and attitudes.
The data indicates how domestic culinary activity became a function to while away time for 85 per cent of the participants. Cooking was seen by the majority of respondents as a modicum to justify their productive nature as well as a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. These behaviours propelled several individuals to resort to domestic cooking practices to provide an alternative sense of self-empowerment.
Participants were asked to compare pre-pandemic with current food preparation methods. Respondents had to identify the change in frequency for the cooking methods that involved take-away food, pre-prepared and frozen meals, cooking using mainly canned and packaged foods and cooking from scratch.
The data related to take-away food is indicative of the dependency of the Maltese on such consumption patterns. With 75 respondents claiming that this was not applicable, all the other respondents had, at one time or another, resorted to take-away food during the first five weeks of the social distancing period.
What is interesting is that more than 50 per cent of the respondents had reduced their preference of consuming take-away food. There was also an interesting drop in the consumption of pre-prepared or frozen meals for more than 50 per cent of the respondents.
We now need to consider ways of how to maintain this cultural change
The same also applies for the category investigating those cooking practices using mainly canned and packaged foods. The decrease in resorting to such practices led to an interesting increase by the participant to adopt a cooking from scratch approach.
The information also indicated some interesting adaptations to the current situation. First, several participants ventured into learning to make certain types of food for the first time or even rediscover foods they had not prepared for a long time, including foods inspired from childhood culinary experiences.
While the majority of respondents prepared food that they were already familiar with, the same also commented on adding a variation to food they had prepared in the past. The need to allow creativity to blossom in this time of disruption is also representative of how food has served as a safety-valve to release angst for some of the respondents.
If the pandemic period has been an opportunity for some to learn new cooking methods, new recipes and more regular joyous moments of conviviality, for some the looming threat of uncertainty, the stress related to employment, the struggle to pay the monthly bills and the need to manage a budget had limited the positive effects of the pandemic experience on culinary practices.
What this survey fails to represent are those people who also used food to reach out to help those experiencing various challenges. The pandemic was also an opportunity to bring to light the various issues that have been silenced by our own individualistic attitude.
The raw data presented here should be dealt with caution since the extended time at home did not impact everyone in the same manner. We need to avoid falling into the trap of the rhetoric of positivity associated with this period of disruption. I am suggesting that we need to be critical of our times.
May we remind ourselves of the endless debates about the complexity of our food systems prior to the pandemic. Difficulties related to the environment, health and inequality have been normalised as casual everyday occurrences. The glib talk of disruptions could only be positive if decisive action is addressed, action that transcends beyond the normalised lip service.
We need to take heed of all the aspects related to our food systems. In recent years, the world has witnessed a resurgence to revise food-related public policy, projects and experiments intended to develop better food systems and consumption patterns. Malta is also part of this culture. We need to reflect on what we want to change following this pandemic.
Let us not be fooled by our anticipation of returning to pre-pandemic behaviours. Let us focus on the positive attributes of these past weeks, including our awareness of those situations that brought forward the various poor practices that we chose to ignore for a long time.
Is Malta striving to go back to business as usual or aspiring to use the positivity of eating-in during the period of disruption to get informed about a better future? It is precisely because we do not know what the future holds for us that we need to talk about it.
This survey highlights how through disruption the respondents sought innovation. The circumstances required shifts in our attitudes and behaviours, in most cases, incredibly positive adaptations. In our splendid isolation, we have taken personal initiatives that we were less willing to adopt until three months ago. We now need to consider ways of how to maintain this cultural change.
Returning to normal should not be the discourse that dominates the thoughts of our leaders and policymakers. We should consider this adapted culture, understand all those dynamics that shaped it, and plan for a ‘new normal’.
Noel Buttigieg lectures within the Institute for Tourism, Travel & Culture of the University of Malta.