Abstract
Background
Household food waste (HHFW) has been described as a contemporary multifactorial problem impacting the environment, economy, society and health. Community kitchens have been found to have public health benefits for social wellbeing and nutrition. However, few community kitchens have been developed and implemented with the primary aim of reducing HHFW. This research focuses on the community kitchen scheme in Leicestershire that was established to engage individuals with HHFW issues and build community capacity to deal with food waste effectively and sustainably. The aims of the research were to explore how aligned the aims of the community kitchens were to the reasons why participants attend, and the benefits experienced from participating.
Methods
The research used a short survey of attendees (n = 33), observations of community kitchen sessions (n = 4) and individual semi-structured interviews with attendees (n = 14), volunteers (n = 3) and Borough Council staff (n = 2). Quantitative data was, analysed descriptively, and qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Findings suggest a gap between the reasons behind the development and implementation of the community kitchen scheme, their intended impact and the actual practices and benefits experienced by participants. Reducing HHFW was not found to be the core element, nor a reason for why people chose to attend. The community kitchens were, however, valued and considered worthwhile by participants, volunteers, and staff. In alignment with other data on the value of community kitchens, they were found to be beneficial particularly in terms of offering opportunities to socialise in an inclusive, supportive environment.
Conclusion
A refocus of the community kitchens as a scheme to provide social benefits, is likely to improve the scheme’s reach and subsequent contribution to the health and wellbeing of socially isolated individuals.
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Data availability
Anonymised survey data, qualitative transcripts, and observation fieldnotes, used during the current study are available from the first author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- HHFW:
-
Household food waste
- WRAP:
-
Waste and Resources Action Programme
- LCC:
-
Leicestershire County Council
- LFHW:
-
Love food hate waste
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Acknowledgements
Thank you, Rachel Duncan and Shirley Cobby from Leicestershire Borough Council and Leicestershire County Council, specifically Matthew Copley, James O’Brien and Nailesh Ramaiya for their contributions throughout this research. Thank you also to our PPI members and all the participants who participated in the study.
Funding
This study/project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST/NIHR131567).
C.H.’s time is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Evaluation and Behavioural Science (EBS) at the University of Bristol, in partnership with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care, or UKHSA. Funders were not involved in data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the paper.
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CH, PJ, JP, RC & FdV contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by CH. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CH. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethical approval for the study was awarded by the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics committee in March 2022 (ref. 10175) and has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki. All informed consents had been obtained from the eligible participants before initiating data collection.
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Harrison, C.R., Parton, J., Jessiman, P.E. et al. A qualitative exploration of community kitchens to reduce household food waste as a public health intervention. BMC Public Health (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25903-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25903-2