Making Dinner

The aim of the study is to identify the multiple factors that home cooks consider with regard to food preparation, including emotional, social, and resource perspectives. The authors argue that in addition to the shortage of time available to most home cooks, much of meal selection is tied to the identity of the cook and the intended goal of preparing the meal, beyond providing dinner. The authors also point out that home cooking isn't as uncommon as popularly portrayed in contemporary media, because such media tend to focus exclusively on the cooking act, ignoring the choices that cooks make surrounding meals. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Students in two-year technical programs. * CHOICE * This topic is relevant and understudied, and the authors address it here with an accessible writing style. * Shelley Koch, Emory and Henry College, USA * Very little has been written about what people actually do with food rather than the discourses and myths that surround 'cooking' or the 'family meal'. This book overcomes this with empirical research on 'home cooking' combined with academic analysis and with reference to the relevant literature. A very well written and convincing book. * Wendy Wills, University of Hertfordshire, UK * Adding to the unduly sparse literature on meals, this book valuably presents further evidence that eating out is not eclipsing eating at home and that cooking skills are not being lost, simply changing. * Anne Murcott, SOAS, University of London, UK *