Domestic Food and Sustainable Design:
A Study of University Student Cooking and its Impacts
Adrian K. Clear, Mike Hazas, Janine Morley, Adrian Friday, and Oliver Bates
Lancaster University, UK
{a.clear,m.hazas,j.morley,a.friday,o.bates}@lancaster.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
In four university student kitchens over twenty-one days, we
captured participants’ food preparation activity, quantified the
greenhouse gas emissions and direct energy connected to the
food and cooking, and talked to participants about their food
practices. Grounded in this uniquely detailed micro-account,
our findings inform sustainable design for cooking and eating at home and quantify the potential impacts. We outline
the relation of the impacts to our participants’ approaches to
everyday food preparation, the organisation of their time, and
the role of social meals. Our technique allows evaluation of
opportunities for sustainable intervention design: at the appliance, in the digitally-mediated organisation of meals and
inventory management, and more broadly in reflecting upon
and reshaping diet.
Author Keywords
sustainability; food; practices; everyday life; energy;
greenhouse gas
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.2 Information Interfaces and Presentation: Miscellaneous
INTRODUCTION
In the UK, food production, distribution and consumption accounts for 27% of total direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It has been posited that changing from an ‘average’
diet to a plant-based one, could save as much as 22%. This is
about 40 Mt CO2 e per year [5]. Food practices are an important potential design space for HCI. There is a growing interest in ecological sustainability in HCI, and formative studies
have shed light on implications for the design of e.g. sustainable domestic energy [10, 30, 35] and water [35]. Quite recently, considerations of sustainability have turned to food in
designs for alternative systems of food production and consumption [11, 12, 13].
Furthering such work, this paper applies an empirical lens to
uncover the impacts that arise from food preparation at home.
We analyse the cooking practices and foods observable at the
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies
bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or
republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific
permission and/or a fee.
CHI 2013, April 27–May 2, 2013, Paris, France.
Copyright 2013 ACM 978-1-4503-1899-0/13/04...$15.00.
cooker (i.e. “stove” or “range”), and explore the precise relationship of the food’s embodied GHG arising from production/distribution (indirect emissions), with those arising from
the energy required to cook it (direct emissions).
Our study took place over three weeks, with full-time UK
students living in shared university accommodation. Students
are a very specific yet significant demographic where design
interventions might have impact: there are 6 million full-time
students in UK (7% of the population)1 and approximately 47
million (15%) in the US.2
Domestic student life is also a potentially fruitful domain
for intervention. Student accommodation is a type of highdensity housing which is often set up with communal areas,
lending itself particularly well to opportunities for sustainable design. Students ostensibly have more spare time and
flexible schedules, as they are less likely to be constrained
by responsibilities for dependents, or by full-time employment. Moreover, many young students have recently moved
away from a guardian’s home and have newfound responsibilities in procuring and preparing food for themselves; they
are at a specific point of “transition in practice” [32, ch. 1]
where interventions and shifts might be more easily trialled
and adopted to shape their competencies and ways of doing
things, for later life. Finally, student accommodation is often
institutionally administered, and cooperation with the university can be a basis for scalable change.
In this paper we contribute a unique fine-grained account of
food preparation at the cooker in shared student residences,
the energy taken to cook each food type, its GHG impact, and
what it means and how it fits with the lives of our participants.
Then, we discuss and evaluate (in terms of potential impact) a
range of design interventions that might be applied to reduce
the impact of these food practices.
RELATED WORK
Food sustainability is an increasingly important topic in HCI.
Recent work has begun to address the importance of lowerimpact food choice. Using food miles as a proxy for carbon impact, Kalnikaite et al. explore ‘nudging in situ’ with
an augmented supermarket trolley [20]. There are also calls
to broaden the scope and tackle areas beyond the consumer;
Choi and Blevis offer a framework for disciplinary and user
1
Universities UK (UUK), report “The future size and shape of the
higher education sector in the UK: demographic projections”, 2008.
2
Estimated from Degree enrolment statistics 2006-9, National Centre for Education Statistics, US Dept. for Education.
engagement in sustainable food cultures in urban environments [11].
Other food-related HCI research has largely sought to augment meal planning and cooking, with goals such as promoting nutrition [1, 9], organisation [18] and sociality [26,
29]. Augmented kitchens have been enhanced with projected
displays to increase the cook’s efficiency, as exemplified by
Bonanni et al.’s ‘CounterIntelligence’ [6]. Kirman et al. propose aversive feedback to stimulate more frugal energy, gas
and water use in the kitchen [21]. Although not yet in terms
of sustainability, Grimes and Harper suggest an orthogonal
departure from efficiency and planning, to explore ‘Celebratory Technology’ [17] which unobtrusively promotes ways in
which human-food interaction is enjoyed, perhaps as gifts,
for strengthening family ties, or relaxation.
Food and cooking have been widely studied outside HCI
in domains such as anthropology [24], which considers
food systems, food insecurity, how food brings about social
change, and the influence of specific commodities. Francis’ qualitative study of thirty English domestic cooks tackles
the concern that increased use of pre-prepared foods is deskilling cooks and adversely effecting health [31]. She found
no simple, clear-cut relationship between skills and domestic cooking practices, noting their highly individual nature
despite an intricate and shared ‘domestic cooking culture’.
Caraher et al. use national survey data to explore the relationship between cooking skills and food choice, emphasising a
general lack of specific cooking techniques and confidence to
cook certain foods [7]. Also using surveys, Marquis analyses
factors affecting student diet in residence halls in Montreal
(Canada), finding that convenience was the most important
food motivation, followed by price, pleasure, health and concern about weight [23]. Mooney and Walbourn observe that
male and female college students avoid different foods citing
different reasons [25]. de Leon’s ethnographic work provides
insight into how cooks use time and the significance of organising workspaces such as cupboards and fridges as a memory
aid [14]. Wagner et al. conduct formative studies to uncover
key aspects of cooking competence, and prototype sensors to
measure these techniques for an ‘Ambient Kitchen’ [36].
The direct energy impact of cooking has been considered in
isolation. Oberascher et al. measure the energy efficiency of
boiling water, potatoes and eggs, and brewing coffee [27] to
develop energy saving recommendations. Similarly, Oliveria
et al. gave twenty UK undergraduates a fixed task (cooking
instant noodles), and recorded a variation of up to three times
the electrical energy due to differences in participants’ cooking technique [28]. Stimulating reduction of energy in cooking has also been investigated. In a controlled study of digital energy-consumption indicators at the cooker, Wood and
Newborough found that savings in cooking energy of between
10–20% were possible [39]. They stress the importance of
providing regular feedback, and highlight the role of cooking
technique.
The indirect energy impact of food on emissions has also been
a subject of extensive study outside HCI [8, 33, 37]: Weber
and Matthews highlight how food choice is more impactful
to reduce indirect emissions than food-miles [37]; whereas
Carlsson-Kanyama et al. highlight how diet change can lower
food indirect emissions by up to 30% [8].
We aim to quantify and understand the twin impacts of energy
use and embodied GHG due to food preparation, as currently
practiced in shared student kitchens. We derive insights and
implications for design from in-depth analyses, where we apply state-of-the-art life-cycle analyses (LCAs) in real kitchens
and align the resulting fine-grained accounts of GHG emissions with qualitative insights into the motivations and meanings behind the practices we observe.
METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS
Our study was conducted in four student residences over 21
days on campus. Each residence contains a shared kitchen
and individual study-bedrooms. There were 31 participants:
7 in one residence, and 8 in each of the other three. Where
necessary we denote the residences as Blue, Green and Yellow, and Red. Participants are assigned pseudonyms to preserve their anonymity. In general, students are randomly assigned to residences in their first year of study. In later years,
they may nominate individuals to share with. Red and Yellow
were first-year flats, Green had a mix of first and third-year
students, and Blue a mix of second and third-years.
To capture what is cooked, the use of the cooker and its energy and indirect impact unobtrusively, required a mix of four
methods of enquiry.
Firstly, we use a motion-triggered wildlife trail camera
mounted above the cooker, looking down at the hobs (or
“burners”)—we came to know this camera as ‘the hobcam’.
An example of the hobcam’s field-of-view can be seen in Figure 1. It is intentionally positioned to avoid capturing the
identity of the individual doing the cooking. The hobcam
takes a photo whenever motion is detected. It contains an
infrared light source and thus can capture images even in low
light conditions. Each image is automatically watermarked
with a timestamp.
To complement the photographic record, we logged real-time
electric energy readings (every 6 s) for each flat using OWL
smart meters. We recorded the energy used at every mains
socket throughout the flats using Plugwise units in the shared
kitchens and bedrooms of consenting participants (22 of the
31 participants).
We calculate the energy consumption for each meal by finding the start and end times of each ‘cooking session’ using the
watermarked timestamps in the first and last hobcam images
in the session. The hobcam ignores motion for 30 seconds
after each photo is triggered to keep the number of photos
manageable and allow the onboard storage to last for the duration of the deployment. Fortunately, the fine grained (sixsecondly) energy data allows us to finely adjust the end time
of our cooking sessions. It is possible for the hobcam to miss
the occasional actions within this 30-second window, but it
still yields good coverage of the foods cooked and cooking methods used. A cooking session may include multiple
dishes or meals, where prepared concurrently, and our findings include these unless stated otherwise.
region in the UK, and incorporate state-of-the-art LCAs and
peer-reviewed studies, most notably those of Cranfield University and DEFRA [4].4
Finally, to uncover the place of food and meal preparation in
the lives of our participants we conducted end-of-study interviews (11 in total—3 from 3 domiciles and 2 from the other;
7 female, 4 male). Part of each interview focused around their
food-related activity: what they prefer to eat, how often they
cook, and how else they may prepare or acquire their meals
(take-aways, visiting friends nearby). Interviews were transcribed and then independently coded by two authors, from
which themes were drawn to contribute to our findings. While
participants were aware of the hobcam and that energy consumption was being monitored as part of the study, we purposefully did not ask them about awareness of energy or sustainability.
Figure 1. The Hobcam captures the hobs, the cooker dials, the grill and
oven doors, and a small part of the work surface beside the cooker. All
of the cookers, except the one in Blue, are the same model, and they all
consist of two small and two large electric hobs at the front and rear of
the cooker top, a grill below the hobs and an oven below the grill.
The amount of energy used in cooking the dishes observed
is the area under the curve after subtracting both the total
metered socket-level energy used during the session and a
baseline for the whole flat (to account for any unmonitored
devices). The baseline is the average whole-flat power consumption after the socket level total is subtracted in the 30minute periods immediately before and after a cooking session.
For each cooking session we hand-annotated the number of
dishes, cooker components used, the foods observed and the
quantities in each dish. After Williamson et al. [38], who validated digital photography as a method for estimating portion
sizes, we developed a set of ground rules for estimating food
quantity by weighing portions of common food items, and
cross-checking with weights reported on supermarket packaging. For hobs, we annotated the cooking method (frying,
heating or boiling) and the use of lids on saucepans. Finally,
for events involving boiling, we annotated the type of food
boiled and the method used to bring water to the boil (kettle
or hob), if apparent. It was possible to observe when cooker
dials changed position but not the exact dial setting from the
hobcam photos.
We then calculate direct emissions due to cooking, and indirect emissions resulting from the food supply chain. The
direct emissions are computed using the DEFRA 2010 conversion factor, adjusted to include Scope 3 emissions: 0.60 kg
CO2 e/kWh. Indirect emissions are calculated using our annotated food weights and the conversion factors for categories of
supermarket foods detailed in a report3 for Booths supermarket by Small World Consulting Ltd. (SWC) [4, fig. 17]. Our
results are then inspected by SWC, and refined as necessary.
The figures we used were the best estimates available for our
3
Our carbon estimates were from the 2010 Booths report, which was
the latest available during our analysis and writeup. This is no longer
available online, so we cite instead the updated 2012 edition.
Limitations
Direct emissions arising from electricity use can vary significantly between countries, as this depends on the mix and
GHG externality of energy sources contributing to the national grid. Similarly, the embodied GHG emissions for food
vary with source and supply chain, and for some countries it
is possible to source products locally that have to be imported
in others. For our geographic region, the embodied figures
we used [4] may be slightly below average, as Booths supermarket is a regional retailer that makes a documented effort
to source local and UK produce, and avoid air freight and
hothouse-grown products where feasible.
We acknowledge our methodology uses one of numerous potential lenses through which we could explore domestic meal
preparation and as a result our GHG emissions analysis is
bounded by its field-of-view. This does not include shopping
or meals and snacks that are not prepared using the cooker.
What this study provides is a micro-account of the practices
that take place around the cooker, as an interesting and important nexus of technology, social and food interactions.
Some of our findings rely upon the embodied GHG we attributed to the foods we observed, so it is important to underscore why we feel our attributions are credible. If there
is inaccuracy due to poor weight estimation, or improper
GHG attribution for a specific food, this will not significantly
impact our major GHG-related findings, derived from hundreds of cooking sessions. Moreover, as Berners-Lee observes, as long as the error is not deeply systematic, estimates
that are limited in their accuracy can allow us to start making meaningful comparisons between relative GHG intensities [3, p. 5].
4
Due to well-known inaccuracies of input-output LCA (IOLCA) for
farming, SWC uses unit process LCA up to the farm gate and adds
direct emissions due to transport (based on air/road freight routes
to distribution centres and stores); and then an IOLCA estimate to
account for everything else (e.g. supply chain of fuels, embodied
GHG of vehicles, and office supplies used by Booths).
30
Boiling
heating
Frying
Grilling
Baking
25
15
Continually reproduced foods and embodied emissions
10
5
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
Energy (KWh)
1.6
2 2+
Figure 2. Energy and cooking method (286 single dish meals).
FINDINGS
During the 21 days we recorded 11,577 hobcam images,
which represent 523 meals over 458 cooking sessions. Cooking these meals resulted in 324.8 kWh of electricity consumption (194.5 kg CO2 e). Table 1 contains summary statistics for
the four residences. The energy used by the cooker is strikingly similar for three of the residences, but the embodied
emissions are more variable. In particular, Green have significantly higher embodied emissions as they cook the most
meat, including over double the amount of beef. In the rest
of this section, however, we treat the sample as a whole and
explore the main findings that emerged from our quantitative
and qualitative analyses.
We observed sharp differences in the GHG impact across
the various foods consumed in our study, indicating that the
make-up of individual diets (i.e. type and quantity of foods
consumed) has a large part to play in the overall GHG footprint. Figure 3 illustrates the distribution of embodied emissions across the foods consumed by our participants. Pasta
and bread, although frequent, are low impact by themselves.
When combined with jarred sauces or cheese however, that
impact soars. Chicken is consumed very frequently and so
accounts for a large proportion of the meat-based emissions.
Beef (steak, mince beef and burgers) occurs in few meals (just
4%) but accounts for 16% of the embodied emissions.
0
1
pasta
jarred sauce
chicken
sausages
steak
vegetables
tuna
tinned tomatoes
tomato
oranges
rice
mushrooms
cheese
bread
pancakes
fish fingers
chips
noodles
tortellini
ketchup
frozen veg.
2
Emissions (kg CO2e)
Frequency
20
Perhaps related in part to a lack of ‘pot watching’, we found
large variability in the length of pre– and post-heating, especially for the oven. 3 of the 11 cooking sessions that consumed over 2 kWh in Figure 2 consisted of pre-heat times
from 30 to 50 minutes, and in some rarer cases, post-heat
times of up to 15 minutes.
3
4
5
1
0.5
0
Direct and embodied emissions
Direct emissions strongly influenced by method and technique
The direct energy of a dish is a function of the cooking time
and method used, which relates to the type of ingredients being cooked. It is evident from Figure 2 that dishes prepared
using the oven and grill are more energy intensive than those
using the hobs. In general, more elaborate dishes, in terms of
the number of cooker elements used for preparation, are also
more energy intensive.
We observed differences in the amount of energy required to
cook the same meal, illustrating the effect of variations in
technique. In the 13 instances where a single serving of pasta
was cooked on its own, 0.2–0.4 kWh was normally required,
but in 3 cases up to 0.75 kWh was used. In all but the highest,
the water for the pasta was pre-boiled using the kettle. In the
highest case, one of the participants in Red cooked spaghetti
for 20 minutes, added more, topped up the water from the
kettle, and cooked for a further 20 minutes. The dish was
attended to regularly by its cook.
The choice of cooking method used to prepare foods can also
have a large influence on the direct energy required. This is
particularly evident for sausages in our data: there is over
0.5 kg CO2 e variation in the direct energy used to prepare
similar quantities of sausages. On average, fried sausages
take 1.2 kWh/kg (12 sessions), whereas grilled sausages take
6.7 kWh/kg (7 sessions), the latter more energy intensive by
a factor of 5.6.
0
5
Pasta
10
15
20
Sausages
25
30
Chicken
35
40
Figure 4. Direct (bottom) and indirect energy (top) for 36 common
dishes with identifiable ingredients taken from 406 sessions where a single meal was being prepared in isolation (grouped by type). Embodied
emissions are further broken down by ingredient.
The relative impact of various foods is even more evident in
Figure 4 which focuses on the impact of a selection of complete meals. Chips (and potatoes more generally) are one of
the exceptions: a low-impact food that incurs more carbon
to cook than that embodied in the food. Preparation of potatoes involved high-intensity cooker components for lengthy
periods.
Although we could not identify participants from the photos,
it was clear from the make-up of meals and technique used to
prepare them that many dishes were frequently repeated by
individuals throughout the study. Drilling down to the ingredients that we annotated (Figure 3), what emerges overall
is a repetitious diet consisting of both low and high-impact
ingredients, commonly used for meals that our participants
describe as ‘convenient’. Large quantities of pasta, chicken,
often with jars of preprepared sauces, rice, bacon, sausages,
grilled cheese, usually on toasted bread, chips (“fries”) and
pizza, account for 54% of the total food quantity (by weight)
and 56% (by frequency). Similarly, over half of the total embodied emissions of the foods consumed by our participants
comes from this quite narrow range.
Statistic
Cooker energy / direct emissions (kWh / kg CO2 e)
Other cooking appliances’ energy (kWh)
Fridges and freezers’ energy (kWh)
Total time using the cooker
No. meals / Non-overlapping meals
Mean time / energy (kWh) per meal
Estimated mean meal weight (kg)†
Food embodied emissions (kg CO2 e)
Direct / Indirect (kg CO2 e) per meal
Red
75.3 / 45.1
6.0
55.6
43h 35m
123 / 109
14m 17s / 0.41
0.32
164.9
0.25 / 0.90
Yellow
74.3 / 44.5
14.8
43.1
53h 51m
146 / 114
16m 0s / 0.37
0.24
136.1
0.22 / 0.67
Blue
99.2 / 59.4
19.7
39.4
56h 19m‡
122 / 100
20m 44s / 0.61
0.35
157.5
0.36 / 0.97
Green
76.0 / 45.5
17.3
53.3
46h 46m
132 / 84
13m 26s / 0.36
0.30
246.1
0.22 / 1.18
Table 1. Energy, meals and emissions, by domicile. One of the fridges in Blue appears to have under-reported. † Estimated from the 406 meals prepared
on their own. ‡ The figure for Blue includes 5.3 hours (8.9 kWh) when the oven was left on overnight.
69
70
Embodied
Embodied Ghg
GhG emissions
emissions (kg
(kg CO
CO22e)
e)
90
80
80
Raw beef!
4%!
Mushrooms!
1%!
Cheese!
1%!
61
61
70
Rice!
3%!
Other raw meat!
19%!
60
60
10
10 9
9
50
20
21
41
40
15
15
30
10
Dry pasta and
noodles!
9%!
44
46
32
33
87
88
66
43
43
29
88 29
92
8817
17
88
22
21
27
27
88 10
10
77
99
Fish!
3%!
Tinned vegetables!
3%!
Pizza!
5%!
Ready meals
and tortellini!
7%!
Vegetables!
Bread!
98
1717
11%!
5%!
Chips!
14
22
14
44
10
6%!
10
2
5
1
2
1 11
1 53 3
44
1
2
88
1
2
12
15 2 2 2 2 1 1
8 85 55 5
1 1
1 1 12 11 11 11 11 11 21 12 31 13 51 55 15 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
2 1 2 14
2 2
w
lwo
lalol
kckhma
otco hsm
sts rasr o
a
mmsetsot
pepmm r
a
jajcukgleaslaw
pisgoalerlaizwo ise
suc eosr ona e
l
h
s
o
cocoariyznhauip
chmaeytocullpa lad
a
mktucthean slad
kentrelel sna ead
nugaennnaabratd ts
e
grbnaarlicbsraetnarrtos
bagrloicisadncrrso es
r
gacoisnse pceasaedegs
nd
crtineicpkeoawedg
tinch kat w
oict o
chp atr
u
t
ts
pofluorit
ou
u
flofritfu spruets g
i
frutou anpnropeddign
f
s
tobaenzne ppidudin
befrzoaeckpou
t
frobalcmktao ets
p
blto ametst
r
m
u
p
tocurmghrut s s i
cr ohuer ck n itt
i
y
s
t
a
e
t
g
t
s
k
r
t
yobtutebstsiycebaeanhgehst
bucarbanye bsapgdlseaks
s
crkindneedsnpodolsetaek
d
kitinnesdhnooonste
tinfrsehmmoens er
a mnegs regr
fregm
u
g
ga rnag br
f
u
o
a
e
b
orbeef at
ce
bemeaekt
acue
l
mmilki n tasasu
a
mnaantilla atsa
naoirllah aps ene
t
t
p
g
r
s
s
tofrsehwsnaasgan
s
n
freparwa hlals fflse
e
prfrsehsk wafafletat
freprokraotow meas
ms
poptoattkdedmm
oo
pocookoserhoro s
comusuha gresr
mtnuan nfigneses
tufihshfickaeknsgs
fis nacnalpinlig
p
padm
umpseese
duehe p
c
l
chuopu aela
s
so sh yme
m
h
i
f
fisfaedaydk efe
rer aeka ebeb
t
e
ses
c
stsinicneldelses taoteo
a
mmodo m
om.
nong g dtot ge.g
egeinendne nvev
tintrzoezen
i
frof caocnloilnliin s
bab etle se
r
otr oteo s s
tot toatta aenan
popece dbeb
i
ricr kaekded
baberaeda
brbizaza s s
z
pipihpispsgaegeelses
chcusuasatbalb
a
sasgegte
e
vevsatsateanenucuece
papicikcksasa
chcrrhrerded
jaja
00
Jarred sauces!
11%!
41
41
40
40
20
20
Other!
12%!
Figure 3. The food types observed ordered left-to-right by total weight. The Y-axis represents indirect emissions. The figures on top of the bars are the
total number of dishes that these ingredients appeared in. The pie chart shows the percentage weight by food type.
Embodied emissions nearly four times direct
Flexibility and defaulting to “whatever is in the cupboard”
Overall, the significance of the embodied emissions relative
to direct emissions should not be underestimated: the embodied emissions of the meals prepared by our participants i.e.
getting the food to the shop-counter (701 kg CO2 e) exceeded
those from the energy used to cook it (308.2 kWh resulting in
184.6 kg CO2 e) by a factor of 3.8.
It was common for our participants to talk of the food available in a somewhat detached way, as if the food they have
in the flat is not something they have strict control over.
Miranda explains that when she cooks with friends, they
“work through” the student’s cooking guide and make “um,
risottos, stuff, pasta and sauce whatever, um shepherd’s pie
. . . whatever, whatever ingredients we have”. Leah explains
that she simply eats “whatever I’ve got in, whatever is in the
cupboard”.
Practical, everyday food
Our participants consistently characterised the types of meals
they ate as ‘simple’ or ‘student’ food. By this, they meant
that dishes require little time and effort to prepare, and that
they fit well with their existing capabilities and know-how.
Donna’s meals consist of “simple stuff like cauliflower cheese
and pasta bakes, all those kind of really easy things”. Aaron
talks about “typical student food . . . like Super Noodles, pasta,
and like pies”. Even Ian, who indicates that he dedicates more
time to food preparation than most, describes his meals as “all
simple things, it’s sort of sauces like curries, uh you know,
that sort of food.” An appreciation for quick and easy meals
can also be seen in the quantitative data: half of all dishes
took under 15 minutes of cooker time; 68.8% of the dishes
were prepared on a single cooker component; and only 7%
used more than two.
Fresh ingredients were seen as problematic and there was a
general reluctance to purchase short-life foods because they
were likely to be wasted. Wendy explains: “I like vegetables
and salads and stuff like that but when I buy it it just all goes
off. . . ” Callum is an exception insofar as he purchases fresh
ingredients regardless: he “tend[s] to eat a lot of stuff out of
the fridge [because] when I go to the supermarket I might buy
too much like fresh stuff and then I feel I have to eat it before
it goes out of date”.
So, what we see for our participants are somewhat pragmatically chosen meals, influenced in general by a low-level of
concern with forward planning (outside of fixed timetables).
Cooking takes a back seat
Food was regularly seen, to varying degrees depending on
the participants’ situation and level of interest, as a functional
and expedient chore. Three of our participants do not like to
cook: Wendy laughs at the idea and Miranda states “I don’t
like to cook for myself because it’s just a lot of effort.” Three
more participants do not mind cooking but do not particularly
enjoy it.
Food consumption was often influenced by other aspects of
participants’ lives. Aaron, who says he enjoys cooking and
sometimes builds it as a feature into his daily activities, admits “cos I’ve been really busy I’ve been eating less cos like
I’ve just not had the time to.” Donna recalls how after forgetting to eat lunch “we didn’t eat until really late, like half tenish, was supper-slash-lunch because we hadn’t really had a
proper lunch.” In Miranda’s case, study can entirely supplant
eating ‘properly’, “I’m sat in the library all day with my biscuits I tend to just flurf on them and then I won’t eat, proper,
meals, I suppose”. Thus food itself could, at times, hold very
low priority in the lives of our participants.
Dynamic timetables result in a 24-hour kitchen
The distribution of cooking times against time of day is
shown in Figure 5. There is a semblance of pronounced mealtimes, but meals can occur at any hour of the day. This is
partly by necessity, as students work around externally set
timetables and deadlines, paid work and often hectic social
lives.
50
<5 mins
5ï10 mins
10ï20 mins
20ï30 mins
30ï60 mins
1ï2 hrs
>2 hrs
45
40
Frequency
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
an active sportsperson and cooks large amounts of “really
quick carbs . . . that’s gonna fill me up for training” early in
the morning for use later that day. Ian reports on his diet saying, “I’ll go to cash and carry and I’ve got a lot of - I’ll buy a
lot of meat in bulk and break it down. So, it’ll be sausages and
bacon. . . . Meat and sauce or pasta, yeah typically.” While
for the most part flexibility prevails over forward planning
and regularity of meals, for these two participants, at least,
meal-related planning is possible.
’Proper’ meals and cooking as recreation
Over half of our participants spoke about preparing meals that
were more “proper” than usual. These involved extra time,
effort or skill to prepare and sometimes required forward
planning. For two participants, these were distinguishable as
meals that required cooking. Donna will “usually do a better
kind of lunch like cooking something. [Otherwise] I’ll have
that for supper and I might just get a sandwich or something...
for lunch”. Sometimes there were weekly routine meals: on
Sundays, Wendy will “have probably a proper dinner so . . . if
I make spaghetti bolognese or something.” Otherwise she has
“pasta and sauce [. . . ] pretty much every night”. They could
also be more occasional: for Ian, fajitas and homemade pizza
are regarded as “something easy,” but sometimes he’ll share
a “proper” meal with his girlfriend, “something nice”.
When asked if they liked to cook, five participants claimed
they did and even relished branching out from the mundane.
Donna mentions “[cooking] a couple of times for people just
because I really really like to.” Whereas, Aaron seemed to
enjoy experimenting with food, and sharing it with others:
“Sometimes I offered to cook pasta for people and stuff cos
like I’d done something a bit diff-, weird, weird with it, so
I was ‘ooo try this, it’s nice’”. Cooking for some is even
something to look forward to. Aaron, on how cake baking is a
motivational warm-up task, and reward for studying, recounts
“‘I’m going to the library’ and I’ll be in there for quite a while
and when I get back it’ll be like ‘yay cake!’”.
Bulk cooking and social meals
0ï1
1ï2
2ï3
3ï4
4ï5
5ï6
6ï7
7ï8
8ï9
9ï10 10ï11 11ï12 12ï13 13ï14 14ï15 15ï16 16ï17 17ï18 18ï19 19ï20 20ï21 21ï22 22ï23 23ï0
Hour of day
Figure 5. Distribution of the time-of-day of preparation, taken from the
406 cases where only single meals were being prepared, binned by hour
of the day. A session is placed in a bin if its start time falls within that
bin. Bars are coloured according to the length of the cooking session.
Note that the evening meals are under-represented overall as a higher
percentage of these involved multiple meals in a single session.
There is some correlation of the foods consumed to meal
times, but again this is weak. Fast meals (<5 mins), especially common at lunchtime, are baked beans, egg, soup,
tinned spaghetti, although we do see the same meals recurring in the evenings. Reheated ‘leftovers’ with rice and naan
bread also appear for lunch. Longer (10 minute) meals don’t
seem to vary with time of day, and commonly involve pasta,
bread, bacon and sausages. In fact, pasta appears throughout
the 24 hour day.
Planning is within the realm of possibility
Our participants sometimes cooked dishes that contained
more than one portion, to save some to eat later. Polly is
We see signs in our data that cooking together (i.e. in bulk)
can be less impactful than cooking a single meal for oneself.
From the 286 meals involving only a single cooker component (shown in Figure 6), we see the energy required per kg
of food decreases as the quantity of food increases. This suggests that sharing meals and cooking extra portions for consumption later could help reduce the direct emissions of meal
preparation, if it replaces other individual meals and does not
lead to increased waste. We found that participants mostly
cooked a single dish at a time, generally a single serving for
themselves—and in only 11% of the observed sessions were
people cooking together at the same time. We did see sessions where multiple people cooked the same dish, or where
one person cooked as others observed, but this was rare.
Social meals are enjoyable, often spontaneous, rarely planned
When we asked our participants if they cooked with others,
we got a wide range of responses, even from the same participant. Jess may be pressed into making food for flatmates:
“like if I’m making a fish-finger sandwich or something people will ask like, ‘Can you make me one too?’ So I’ll make
Energy per unit weight (kWh/kg)
25
IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN
Other
linear
Sausages
Tortellini
Pizza
20
15
10
5
0
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Weight (grams)
2500
3000
3500
Figure 6. A comparison of the amount of energy per unit weight required to cook different amounts of food. Foods featured are colourcoded where we were able to measure it alone in a cooking session, e.g.
sausages (red), tortellini (green) and pizza (magenta).
a couple. . . ” Henry sometimes offers meals to his flatmates
if they are nearby: “occasionally if I’m cooking like a curry I
might say ‘Jeff do you want a curry?’ and he’ll be like ‘ok’.”
Leah notes that some of her flatmates “cook for each other
[because] they like the same things.”
Sometimes individual food preparation did overlap, leading
to spontaneous social meals. “I’ll cook at the same time [. . . ]
by coincidence and we’ll have a chat. . . ” (Polly). In Yellow,
the evening meal tended to be more regular: “Yeah most of
us always eat dinner around 5, 6 and we’ll eat in the kitchen.
Even if we don’t plan it we’ll find that we’re all in the kitchen
at the same time eating” (Wendy). Henry recounts a similar situation in Green. Flatmates in Red take it further; they
sometimes spontaneously decide to cook and eat the same
food together. Aaron recounts, “but we don’t like plan it, it
just happens, so like, we don’t tie each other down”.
The social aspect of cooking and dining together was often
linked to enjoyment. Miranda would rather expend effort
cooking for others than cook just for herself: “I don’t like
to cook for myself because it’s just a lot of effort. So I’ll
quite often cook for people, maybe once or twice a week. . . ”
Henry sometimes cooks elaborate meals because “it means I
get to spend more time in the kitchen [...] and there’s people
around and it’s quite good”. Donna recalls how she and her
flatmates used to share meals as a form of entertainment: “We
had a sort of Come Dine with Me type thing. [. . . ] one person
would cook for whoever was available to come. And there’d
usually be like 10 or 11 or 12 of us [. . . ] So we’d take it in
turns. [. . . ], that was really good.”
But, any advanced planning to share (days, or even hours
before mealtime) became prohibitively difficult, because of
food preferences, and more often because of tight schedules,
or a reticence to commit. “We did go through a period of every Wednesday, three or four of us cooking together but that
stopped. Cos it was all [. . . ] like one person would go out
or one person would not want what we wanted so we didn’t
bother any more” (Wendy). Donna mentions that she and
Polly intend to have a shared meal, “like we keep saying we’re
going to cook together but something always gets in the way,”
and Leah maintained that she often ate by herself because her
meals are “at quite strange times”.
When proposing cooking practices as a design space for sustainability, the question of goals arises. Previous research
which could help define them has tended to be piecemeal.
In particular, analyses of the various stages of production and
distribution of foods have highlighted the unsustainable impacts of meat and diary produce [5, 8], which might be considered as a “food choice” at the supermarket, whilst other
research has focused on cooking as a contributor to the significant proportion of energy consumed in the home [39]. These
are potentially competing definitions of sustainability. By
studying both, as they come together during the process of
cooking, we can explore and emphasise interconnections and
relative priorities. As such, our findings echo, but also bring
together previous findings, to elaborate the nature of GHG
impacts in meal preparation and how they are sustained in
everyday routines.
Like Marquis [23], we find that convenience is important to
these students when it comes to cooking, but here we show
that in practice this really does equate to short (most cooking sessions take less than 20 minutes) and simple cooking
(most meals are prepared using a single cooker element). Importantly for questions of sustainability, this is commonly
achieved through combining pre-prepared sauces with meat
or pasta. It is already widely acknowledged that meat is a
GHG-intensive food (e.g. [5]) but in practice we observe that
it is frequently combined with another GHG-intensive food,
jarred sauce. This “marriage of convenience” accounts for
much of the indirect GHG emissions in the study. Otherwise,
combinations with bread are popular. Again, these are often relatively high-impact but easy and quick meals such as
cheese on toast or a sausage sandwich. On the one hand,
the prevalence of these quick, simple meals may help to reduce cooking energy, compared to alternatives which require
longer cooking or multiple elements. But on the other hand,
the frequency of cooking around lunchtime, and evidence
from the interviews, suggests that participants feel able to
cook something both at lunch and in the evening. Moreover,
as we have seen with pasta, even simple meals can be cooked
with such a variability in cooking energy that a difference between cooks, if consistent over the course of a year (or a life),
could begin to look significant.
Taken as a whole, our findings show that the embodied GHG
impacts of meals are generally much greater than those generated by cooking them. This concurs with national estimates for the UK, but the precise contribution of cooking
energy within the overall food footprint is higher in the current study (21.6% compared to 17% which includes all foodrelated home energy (calculated from Garnett [16])). So by
looking at the actual foods that are cooked by a given group,
we get slightly different (and presumably more accurate) figures. In this particular context, at least, this encourages us
not to neglect cooking energy when addressing sustainability through meal preparation. However, as our findings make
clear, it would also be a mistake to limit the scope of sustainable cooking to cooking energy alone. So when designing
digital interactive technologies, we can consider a range of
approaches to support change and reduce impacts. Drawing
on our own ideas, and those of others, we use our findings
to indicate the scope and proportion of impacts that could be
addressed by each broad approach in this context.
Modify the appliance
Long pre– and post-heating accounted for nearly 2% of cooking energy, and could be avoided with more insistent reminders when ovens or grills are brought up to temperature,
and automatic shutoff if left on for hours. Such features
are already common in higher-end appliances. One might
also make the direct resource impacts of everyday cooking
more visible by incorporating an eco-feedback display [15,
35, 39]. A simple example is a “smart cooker” that provides running totals: the current cooking session’s elapsed
time, direct energy, its carbon equivalent, and per-element
contribution. This would have the goal of helping the ecoconscious cook identify lower-impact elements (grill vs hob),
and ways of cooking (flash-fry or sauté); and expose unnecessarily long cooking sessions. Feedback displays might affect
all direct energy–consuming cooking activity (21.6% of the
total GHG).
It might be possible to save 10-20% of this [39] (i.e. about
2-4% reduction of total cooking-related GHG in our study),
but there is open debate about whether people routinely act
as rational resource managers [35]; certainly, we observed
that other aspects of everyday life took priority, and there was
no evidence of concern about efficient cooking. A more effective solution (easily applied in institutional settings like
ours) might be to simply replace high-energy cooking appliances (ovens and grills) with smaller, more efficient alternatives (toaster ovens or combi-ovens).
Support communal organisation
Our participants cooked just for themselves nearly 90% of
the time, which accounted for 65% of the cooking energy
(14% of total GHG). And yet, all of them enjoyed cooking
and eating with others, and many did so when it could be negotiated around other aspects of everyday life. The sociality
of cooking is clearly valued [26, 29] and an important aspect of sustainability. To explicitly support group coordination (and encourage more efficient bulk cooking), we might
design mobile apps or social networking add-ons which raise
awareness of other people’s meal times, and allow individuals
to “join” immediately proximate or ongoing events (supporting the spontaneity and flexibility our participants seemed to
value). Individuals who live alone or regularly cook alone
might be invited to participate in recurring “meal-sharing”
schemes with those living nearby. We might then also think
about how the attractiveness of more social meals, especially
with less known companions, can be promoted and designed
for—what Hupfeld and Rodden refer to as ‘design for conviviality’ [19].
Cooking as a group requires having enough food to prepare.
And even when cooking for just themselves, participants often struggled with whatever happened to be in the cupboard,
or in the shops on campus. Mobile apps for meal sharing
and group cooking might include collective inventory management, resulting in better identification of opportunities
for spontaneous, shared meals (e.g. “I have the vegetables,
you bring the pasta”). Finally, existing communal housing
matchmaking services might weight preferences for food and
mealtimes—the flatmates we observed varied in these, and as
a result, often did not share meals.
Change the food habitually eaten
Since the embodied emissions of food (about 80% of our
study’s total) far outweigh the emissions arising from direct
energy, we suggest that for many scenarios HCI might prioritise approaches that help change the foods that are cooked.
User technologies that harness and present information may
help, but this means going beyond existing web tools for computing carbon externality based on manual entry. More automated solutions may see better take-up and engagement. For
example, OCR might be used to analyse photos of supermarket receipts, or image processing might be applied to photos
to identify foods and their volumes [22].
Rather than apply such eco-feedback at the level of individual items or shopping trips (there is evidence that this does
not work so well [20]), we would rather advocate longer-term
(monthly or seasonal) breakdowns, to help people recognise
the most impactful foods and meals which feature as a regular part of their diet. Jarred sauce, sausages, bacon, chicken
and cheese accounted for about 40% of the embodied emissions (or 32% of the total GHG) in our study. Foods containing beef, while only 4% by volume were 16% by externality. Favourite meals which happen to be high-impact, might
not be eliminated altogether, but rather enshrined as celebratory [17] “proper meals” for enjoyment on special occasions
or as a treat. Some of our participants engaged with online
recipe resources, and as a result tried new things. An interactive cooking guide might take into account the results of
an impact report, and suggest lower-impact ingredients and
meals. Popular alternatives and recipes might be then incorporated into the sharing tools mentioned above, or shared in
a collective sustainable recipe book [29].
DISCUSSION
Food procurement, preparation and consumption, like other
fundamental components of everyday life, are products of
systems of provision (technologies and infrastructures), competencies, meanings, expectations, and the social arrangement of our time [32, 34]. But in knitting together many of
these components, cooking practices will likely prove to be
an important focus of change towards more sustainable food.
We certainly recognise that designing interventions in this
context is not easy. Changes at one point in the system
shape the possibilities for change elsewhere. For example,
smaller and more efficient ovens might restrict opportunities for bulk cooking; more sustainable recipes might require
longer and more complex uses of the cooker. The effectiveness of any single intervention depends on a number of conditions that might not always be met (interested, motivated,
flexible cooks, for example). And we should be especially
cautious given the nature of the change our findings imply: a
move away from foods which are evidently popular, convenient, normal and culturally significant (pre-prepared sauces,
C"770)/(80**"+.&(
7")81.,$+6(.+#(8009$+6
C08$.&(+'/50)9$+6(70)/.&,(.+#(.77,(/0().$,'(
.5.)'+',,(03(0/1')(7'07&'S,(,1077$+6(/$*',(.+#(
*'.&/$*',-(,"770)/$+6(800)#$+./$0+(03(,1.)'#(
*'.&,($+(.#E.+8'(.+#($+2/1'2*0*'+/(T0$+,
U$6$/.&(.,,$,/.+/,(/0(,"770)/(300#(,1077$+6(.+#(
8009$+6(30)(.(6)0"7:((R"//$+6(/06'/1')(.(80&&'8/$E'(
V51./S,($+(0")(8"7%0.)#,V(30)(.(6)0"7:
D+.%&'(10",$+6(.&&08./$0+,(%.,'#(0+(7)'3')'+8',(
30)(/>7',(03(300#(.+#(*'.&(/$*',:
K1.+6'(/1'(300#(
1.%$/".&&>('./'+
[0#$3>(/1'(
.77&$.+8'
.%*-$)%/+01#$201-)3-)45
!""#$%&' ()*+#,+)*-$)
!"#$%&'()'*$+#'),-(."/0(,1"/2033
41')'(5.,(&0+6(7)'2(.+#(70,/21'./$+6(03(8009$+6('&'*'+/,:
C'+,0)2'+1.+8'#(."/028009(3"+8/$0+
DE'+(.*0+6,/(80*7.).%&'(#$,1',-(/1')'(5.,(.(1$61(E.)$.+8'($+(8009$+6(#")./$0+,(.+#('+')6>:
G'7&.8'H)'*0E'(/1'(*0,/('+')6>2$+/'+,$E'(8009$+6(
/'81+0&06$',I(30)('J.*7&'(,5.7(/1'(&.)6'(0E'+,(
K')/.$+('&'*'+/,(.)'(7.)/$8"&.)&>($+/'+,$E'-()'L"$)$+6(.(&0/(*0)'('+')6>(/0(8009(.(,$*$&.)(.*0"+/(03(300#:
.+#(6)$&&,(5$/1(,*.&&(/0.,/')(0E'+,:
Q+28009')('+')6>(3''#%.89(#$,7&.>(?'&.7,'#(/$*'-( 41'(8009$+6(&'+6/1(.+#(*'/10#(",'#(/0(7)'7.)'(300#,($+3&"'+8',(/1'('+')6>()'L"$)'#-(>'/(/1')'(5.,(+0(
)"++$+6(/0/.&,-(7')2'&'*'+/-(1$,/0)$8.&B
'E$#'+8'(03(7.)/$8$7.+/(.5.)'+',,(03('+')6>()'L"$)'#(30)(8009$+6:
X0('E$#'+8'(03(7.)/$8$7.+/(.5.)'+',,(03(300#S,('*%0#$'#(6)''+10",'(6.,($*7.8/,I(#$'/(1.,(&.)6'($+3&"'+8'(
U'/'8/(.+#(&06(51./(300#($,(7")81.,'#(0)(7)'7.)'#:((
0+(0E').&&(W1W('J/')+.&$/>I('*%0#$'#('*$,,$0+,(6)'./')(/1.+(#$)'8/(%>(3.8/0)(03(O:Y:((K')/.$+(1.%$/".&(300#,(
W'+')./'(7')$0#$8()'70)/,(0+(6)''+10",'($*7.8/,:((
?T.))'#(,."8'-(81$89'+-(,.",.6',-(%.80+-(.+#(81'','B(1.#(.(#$,7)070)/$0+./'&>(1$61('*%0#$'#('*$,,$0+,(
R)0E$#'(/.$&0)'#(.#E$8'(0+(.&/')+./$E',:
?A@=B:((K')/.$+(&',,(3)'L"'+/(300#,(?,/'.9(.+#(*$+8'(%''3B(1.#('J/)'*'&>(1$61('*%0#$'#('*$,,$0+,(?FA:Y=B:
U$'/(1.,(&.)6'($+3&"'+8'(0+(0E').&&(W1W('J/')+.&$/>I()'7'/$/$0+(03(+.))05().+6'(03(*'.&,I(*0)'('+6.6'*'+/(
5$/1(300#(#")$+6(S7)07')S(*'.&,:(U$,80E')>(.+#(.5.)'+',,(03(.&/')+./$E',(?/1)0"61(3)$'+#,(0)(0+&$+'(
C",/.$+.%&'()'8$7'(%009,-(0+&$+'()',0")8',-(.+#(
)',0")8',B(8.+(7)0*0/'(81.+6',($+(#$'/(.+#(*'/10#(03(300#(7)'7.)./$0+:((C0*'(7'07&'(,105'#(.(
)'8$7'(6'+')./$0+
5$&&$+6+',,(/0('J7')$*'+/(5$/1(+'5()'8$7',(.+#(300#,:
()3-&%*-$)0$10-2"%&*50*%#4+**+3601#$20
1-)3-)4507#%*-$0$10*$*%/8
;<=(8009$+6('+')6>(?@:A=B
FF=(03(8009$+6('+')6>(?<:A=B
K009$+6('+')6>(#"'(/0(0E'+,(.+#(
6)$&&,(5.,(FM:N=(?O:P=B
R0/'+/$.&&>(.&&(8009$+6('+')6>(?<F:M=B
YN=(03(8009$+6(,',,$0+,(80+/.$+'#(.(,$+6&'(8009-(",".&&>(7)'7.)$+6(0+'(70)/$0+:((\1'+(7.)/$8$7.+/,(8009'#(
$+(%"&9(30)(/1'*,'&E',(0)(.(6)0"7-($/(/009(&',,('+')6>(7')("+$/(5'$61/:((R.)/$8$7.+/,('+T0>'#(/1'(,08$.&(
.,7'8/,(03('./$+6(/06'/1')(.+#(088.,$0+.&&>(7&.++'#(,08$.&(S7)07')S(*'.&,:((]"/-(.%$&$/>(/0(8009($+(%"&9(.+#(
!&&(,$+6&'28009(8009$+6('+')6>:(
,1.)'(5')'(,/)0+6&>(.33'8/'#(%>(&$*$/,(0+(51./(5.,($+(/1'(8"7%0.)#I(%>(.8.#'*$8(.+#('*7&0>*'+/(
?FA:F=B
/$*'/.%&',I(.+#(%>(.(#',$)'(/0(%'(3&'J$%&'(0)(,70+/.+'0",:
U',7$/'(/1'(600#(70/'+/$.&(30)(,",/.$+.%&'(,1.)$+6(03(*'.&,($+(/1','(3&./,(03('$61/-(7.)/$8$7.+/,(510(&$E'#(
/06'/1')(50"&#(*0,/(03/'+('./(#$33')'+/(/1$+6,-(./(#$33')'+/(/$*',:
D*%0#$'#('*$,,$0+,(03(1$612$*7.8/(
300#,(5.,(ZA:Y=(?AO=B
R0/'+/$.&&>(.&&('*%0#$'#('*$,,$0+,(
?PY:A=B
Table 2. Summary of interventions. We describe (rightmost column) the portion of direct energy or embodied emissions which might be affected, as
seen in the findings from our study. Note that we provide this as an indication of the scope of an intervention; the reduction that an intervention achieves
will be less, and depends on its design, and the cooking practices in a given domain.
meats, and cheese). But it is important to remember that these
observed cooking practices have not always been like this.
They are dynamic. We must think about how technologies
have a role in reshaping broader systems, and where purely
technological solutions are not merited [2].
2. Baumer, E. P., and Silberman, M. S. When the
implication is not to design (technology). In Proc. of
CHI (2011), 2271–2274.
CONCLUSION
4. Berners-Lee, M. Booths greenhouse gas footprint report,
2012. SWC Ltd. http://www.booths.co.uk/reports/
GHG-report-2012-web.pdf.
We have evaluated the potential of design interventions to
improve the sustainability of cooking. These include interactions with cooking appliances, digital meal sharing apps
and group inventory management, and interactive technologies such as eco-feedback that might promote awareness of
and change towards alternative meals. Our study traces the
largest GHG impacts to the presence and importance of wider
social systems within which cooking takes place: systems of
provision, the organisation of everyday life and the meaning
of meals. HCI and the interactive systems it could design
to support more sustainable cooking can and should be conceived within this broader context if they are to interact meaningfully with always-evolving cooking practices.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was funded by the UK Research Councils (refs.
EP/G008523/1 & EP/I00033X/1), and the Facilities Division
and the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University. We would like to thank Mike Berners-Lee, Darren
Axe, Candace Davies and John Mills for their cooperation
and interest in the study. Finally, we are grateful to A.J.
Brush, Enrico Rukzio and our CHI reviewers for their insightful comments.
REFERENCES
1. Aberg, J. An evaluation of a meal planning system: Ease
of use and perceived usefulness. In Proc. of British HCI
(2009), 278–287.
3. Berners-Lee, M. How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon
footprint of everything. Profile Books, 2010.
5. Berners-Lee, M., Hoolohan, C., Cammack, H., and
Hewitt, C. The relative greenhouse gas impacts of
realistic dietary choices. Energy Policy 43 (2012).
6. Bonanni, L., Lee, C.-H., and Selker, T.
CounterIntelligence: Augmented reality kitchen. In
Proc. of CHI (2005).
7. Caraher, M., Dixon, P., Lang, T., and Carr-Hill, R. The
state of cooking in England: The relationship of cooking
skills to food choice. British Food Journal 101, 8
(1999), 590–609.
8. Carlsson-Kanyama, A., Engström, R., and Kok, R.
Indirect and direct energy requirements of city
households in Sweden: Options for reduction, lessons
from modeling. Industrial Ecology 9, 1-2 (2005).
9. Chen, J.-H., Chi, P.-Y., Chu, H.-H., Chen, C.-H., and
Huang, P. A smart kitchen for nutrition-aware cooking.
IEEE Pervasive Magazine 9, 4 (2010), 58 –65.
10. Chetty, M., Brush, A. B., Meyers, B. R., and Johns, P.
It’s not easy being green: Understanding home computer
power management. In Proc. of CHI (2009), 1033–1042.
11. Choi, J. H., and Blevis, E. HCI and sustainable food
culture: A design framework for engagement. In Proc.
of NordiCHI (2010), 112–117.
12. Choi, J. H., Comber, R., Linehan, C., and McCarthy, J.
Food for thought: designing for critical reflection on
food practices. In Proc. of DIS (2012). Workshop
abstract.
13. Comber, R., Ganglbauer, E., Choi, J., Hoonhout, J.,
Rogers, Y., O’Hara, K., and Maitland, J. Food and
interaction design: Designing for food in everyday life.
In Proc. of CHI EA (2012).
14. de Leon, D. Actions, artefacts and cognition: An
ethnography of cooking. Lund University Cognitive
Studies, 104 (2003).
15. Erickson, T., Podlaseck, M., Sahu, S., Dai, J. D., Chao,
T., and Naphade, M. The Dubuque water portal:
Evaluation of the uptake, use and impact of residential
water consumption feedback. In Proc. of CHI (2012),
675–684.
16. Garnett, T. Cooking up a storm: Food, greenhouse gas
emissions and our changing climate. Food Climate
Research Network, University of Surrey: Centre for
Environmental Strategy.
17. Grimes, A., and Harper, R. Celebratory technology: new
directions for food research in HCI. In Proc. of CHI
(2008), 467–476.
18. Hamada, R., Okabe, J., Ide, I., Satoh, S., Sakai, S., and
Tanaka, H. Cooking navi: assistant for daily cooking in
kitchen. In Proc. of Multimedia (2005), 371–374.
19. Hupfeld, A., and Rodden, T. Laying the table for HCI:
uncovering ecologies of domestic food consumption. In
Proc. of CHI (2012), 119–128.
20. Kalnikaite, V., Rogers, Y., Bird, J., Villar, N., Bachour,
K., Payne, S., Todd, P. M., Schöning, J., Krüger, A., and
Kreitmayer, S. How to nudge in situ: Designing lambent
devices to deliver salient information in supermarkets. In
Proc. of Ubicomp (2011).
21. Kirman, B., Linehan, C., Lawson, S., Foster, D., and
Doughty, M. There’s a monster in my kitchen: using
aversive feedback to motivate behaviour change. In
Proc. of CHI EA (2010), 2685–2694.
22. Kong, F., and Tan, J. Dietcam: Automatic dietary
assessment with mobile camera phones. Pervasive and
Mobile Computing 8, 1 (2011), 147–163.
23. Marquis, M. Exploring convenience orientation as a
food motivation for college students living in residence
halls. International Journal of Consumer Studies 29, 1
(2005), 55–63.
24. Mintz, S., and Du Bois, C. The anthropology of food and
eating. Annual Review of Anthropology (2002), 99–119.
25. Mooney, K., and Walbourn, L. When college students
reject food: not just a matter of taste. Appetite 36, 1
(2001), 41–50.
26. Mou, T.-Y., Jeng, T.-S., and Ho, C.-H. Sociable kitchen:
Interactive recipe system in kitchen island. International
Journal of Smart Home (2009).
27. Oberascher, C., Stamminger, R., and Pakula, C. Energy
efficiency in daily food preparation. International
Journal of Consumer Studies 35, 2 (2011), 201–211.
28. Oliveira, L., Mitchell, V., and Badni, K. Cooking
behaviours: a user observation study to understand
energy use and motivate savings. Work: A Journal of
Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation 41, 1 (2012),
2122–2128.
29. Palay, J., and Newman, M. SuChef: An in-kitchen
display to assist with ”everyday” cooking. In Proc. of
CHI EA (2009), 3973–3978.
30. Pierce, J., Schiano, D. J., and Paulos, E. Home, habits,
and energy: Examining domestic interactions and
energy consumption. In Proc. of CHI (2010), 1985–94.
31. Short, F. Domestic cooking practices and cooking skills:
findings from an English study. Food Service Technology
3, 3-4 (2003), 177–185.
32. Shove, E. Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience: The
Social Organization of Normality. Berg, 2003.
33. Stehfest, E., Bouwman, L., van Vuuren, D., den Elzen,
M., Eickhout, B., and Kabat, P. Climate benefits of
changing diet. Climatic Change 95, 1 (2009), 83–102.
34. Strengers, Y. Bridging the divide between resource
management and everyday life: Smart metering, comfort
and cleanliness. PhD thesis, RMIT University,
Melbourne, 2009.
35. Strengers, Y. Designing eco-feedback systems for
everyday life. In Proc. of CHI (2011), 2135–2144.
36. Wagner, J., van Halteren, A., Hoonhout, J., Ploetz, T.,
Pham, C., Moynihan, P., Jackson, D., Ladha, C., Ladha,
K., and Olivier, P. Towards a pervasive kitchen
infrastructure for measuring cooking competence. In
Proc. of IEEE Pervasive Health (2011), 107–114.
37. Weber, C. L., and Matthews, H. S. Food-miles and the
relative climate impacts of food choices in the United
States. Environmental Science & Technology 42, 10
(2008), 3508–3513.
38. Williamson, D. A., Allen, H., Martin, P. D., Alfonso,
A. J., Gerald, B., and Hunt, A. Comparison of digital
photography to weighed and visual estimation of portion
sizes. J. of the Am. Dietetic Association 103, 9 (2003),
1139–1145.
39. Wood, G., and Newborough, M. Dynamic
energy-consumption indicators for domestic appliances:
Environment, behaviour and design. Energy and
Buildings 35, 8 (2003), 821–841.