Exploring Young Women’s Perceptions of Their Food Skills

Many young adults mistakenly perceive that they have good food safety knowledge and are unlikely to experience foodborne illness. Young women’s food skills are of particular importance because women are responsible for most food-related tasks in the home and many children learn food skills from their mothers. This descriptive qualitative study explored young women’s perceptions of food skills in three domains: food selection and planning, food preparation, and food safety and storage. Through individual interviews, 30 young women aged 17 to 30 years answered the following three key research questions: (i) What do food skills mean to you? (ii) How did you learn them? and (iii) In what areas are you most and least confident? Few participants mentioned food safety in their top-of-mind definition of food skills. More than half were least confident in the domain of food safety and storage. Fear prompted avoidance of cooking meat – even by those who were not vegan or vegetarian. Food skill interventions or curricula should emphasize food safety and storage so that young adults can reap the dietary and financial benefits of preparing all types of food. Consistent with others’ recommendations, the two most important food safety topics for educating young adults should be (i) cross-contamination and sanitation procedures and (ii) safe times and temperatures for cooking or storing food.