Quarantine Kitchen: Examining the Role of Food and Food Experiences in Meaning-Making During Covid-19

Abstract

This research questions how people made meaning of the COVID-19 pandemic through foodways and foodstuffs and explores the ways in which food operates as a symbol in cultural and social practices, fosters identity, and serves as a communication tool in the setting of the pandemic. This research has four key questions: 1) How are people employing food to make meaningful connections with others during the pandemic and quarantine? 2) In what ways do people return to food traditions or employ new foodways in creative ways when other options are not available? 3) How have the meanings, tensions, and significance of foodstuffs and foodways changed and grown during the pandemic? And 4) During the pandemic, what are the immediate and long-term impacts of interactions with and around food, both individual and communal? The data from this research were comprised of forty-two survey responses, six semi-structured participant interviews, and four semi-structured informant interviews. This research functions within the theoretical frameworks of symbolic interactionism and constructivism to examine the role that food played in the construction of cultural and individual meaning-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused great upheaval, and food offered a way of creating meaning within this complex situation. The results of this research demonstrate an important aspect of individual and communal response to the pandemic including the individual and collective foodway challenges, food-related solutions, and changes to foodways caused by the pandemic.