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Attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults on reality television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. Is there cause for concern? Descriptive analysis presented from a consumer survey
Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
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Appetite j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a p p e t
Research report
Attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults on reality television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. Is there cause for concern? Descriptive analysis presented from a consumer survey ☆ A.M. Villani *, T. Egan, J.B. Keogh, P.M. Clifton School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
A R T I C L E
I N F O
Article history: Received 7 February 2015 Received in revised form 19 March 2015 Accepted 22 March 2015 Available online 27 March 2015 Keywords: Dietary behaviour Celebrity chefs Television cooking programmes
A B S T R A C T
Background: There is evidence suggesting that the nutritional content of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs or television cooking programmes contradict healthy eating guidelines. This study aims to investigate people’s attitudes and beliefs about popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. Methods: Males and females who watch television cooking programmes were recruited to participate in a self-administered online questionnaire (22-items) which included multiple-choice and rank order questions. Results: A total of n = 207 participants undertook the questionnaire with fully completed questionnaires available for n = 150 participants (Males, n = 22; Females, n = 128; aged 38.4 ± 14 years). The majority of respondents watch ≤30 minutes of television cooking programming per day (total responses, n = 153/ 207; 74%) with almost three-quarters (total responses, n = 130/175; 74%) having attempted a recipe. New cooking ideas (total responses, n = 81/175; 46%) and entertainment (total responses, n = 64/175; 36.5%) were the two main reasons participants gave for watching these programmes. Significantly more respondents believed recipes use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt (unhealthy: 24%; healthy: 7%; P < 0.0001). Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 67/151; 44%) believed these programmes have no impact on their habitual diet. Discussion and Conclusion: Our results suggest television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to impact habitual dietary intake; rather, vicarious viewing and entertainment appear important factors relating to why people watch these programmes. However results generated from the present study are descriptive and subjective and further investigation into the impact of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on behavioural change requires attention. Further investigation including a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs against national healthy eating benchmarks is also warranted. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction The global rise of overweight and obesity now dominates population health priorities across most western countries. In 2008, a systematic analysis of epidemiological studies involving 199 countries estimated 1.46 billion adults as overweight (body-mass index
☆ Acknowledgements: None of the authors other than PMC has any conflict of interest in relation to the present study. PMC is on the board of the Good Foundation which runs Jamie Oliver cooking courses in Australia. No funding is declared. JBK and PMC were responsible for designing the study, analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. AMV was responsible for designing the questionnaire, analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. TE was responsible for analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. The authors would also like to acknowledge Ms Fiona Clarke, a Masters of Dietetics student at the University of South Australia who assisted piloting the original questionnaire. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version submitted for publication. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.M. Villani).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.021 0195-6663/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
(BMI) >25 kg/m2) and of these, 502 million were obese (BMI >30 kg/ m2) (Finucane et al., 2011; Swinburn et al., 2011; Wang, McPherson, Marsh, Gortmaker, & Brown, 2011). Factors that influence dietary choice and behaviour are complex, resulting from an interplay between multiple influences across numerous contexts (Lake & Townshend, 2006; Papas et al., 2007; Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O’Brien, & Glanz, 2008). Perhaps one of the major drivers contributing to an ‘obesogenic’ environment originates from within the food system, which includes persuasive food marketing and the promotion of sedentary behaviour such as television viewing (Chandon & Wansink, 2012; Chaput, Klingenberg, Astrup, & Sjödin, 2011; Swinburn et al., 2011). Parallel with this is the advent of television cooking shows and other forms of food programming that now dominate television screens all of which are accessible sources of food and nutrition information for consumers (De Solier, 2005; Ketchum, 2005; Phillipov, 2013). In conjunction with the considerable increase in the number of television cooking programmes, there has been development in the variety of such shows reflecting contemporary popular
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A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
programming formats; specifically, this ranges from the more traditional cooking programmes focusing on the delivery of recipe information and food knowledge to that of game shows and reality television cooking where the focus is on entertainment rather than cookery instruction. Given their viewer popularity, there appears to be a shift in the broadcasting schedule for such programmes from traditional daytime television, to now occupying prime-time slots which has resulted in new ratings records for the most watched nonsporting event in Australia (De Solier, 2005; Phillipov, 2013). As a consequence, several countries, including Australia, now have entire television channels devoted to food and cooking where it is now possible to watch food television all day, every day (De Solier, 2005). Furthermore these programmes, with the aid of celebrity chefs, are often used to promote well-known food and beverage brands in aggressive and collaborative marketing strategies (Jones, Freeth, Hennessy-Priest, & Costa, 2013). In many popular television cooking programmes, high energy foods such as butter, cream and fatty red meat are on display and are emphasized through the programmes’ narratives and camera work techniques (Phillipov, 2013). Moreover, ‘unhealthy’ fats such as butter and cream are typically central to numerous dishes prepared on various television cooking programmes with celebrity chefs and contestants often shown enjoying such dishes with unrestrained pleasure (Phillipov, 2012, 2013). Such a focus on culinary pleasure rather than healthy eating is arguably a significant contributor towards the popularity of these shows. There is some evidence suggesting a ‘knock-on’ effect from exposure to reality television cooking programmes and the retail industry. Cleanthous et al. (2010) reported a 9.3% increase in the sale of butter in 2009 whilst a 2.3% reduction was observed for the volume of unsaturated margarines sold in the same year. The authors speculated that food media and culture played a major role in influencing consumer choice of butter over unsaturated margarine spreads for use in recipes (Cleanthous et al., 2010). At present, there are no regulations on what celebrity chefs can present regarding food and nutrition knowledge (Jones et al., 2013). At times, recipes or ingredients promoted by celebrity chefs are presented as being healthy, perhaps giving the impression that all meals cooked by celebrity chefs are healthy (Howard, Adams, & White, 2012). However, a systematic nutritional analysis of such recipes, particularly in an Australian context, has not been published. Two recent nutritional analysis studies conducted in the United Kingdom highlighted that the general trend for recipes derived from celebrity chefs contain excessive amounts of total fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and are low in dietary fibre, all of which contradict healthy eating benchmark recommendations globally (Howard et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2013). Given the frequency and popularity of reality television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, it is plausible that an increased viewing time may influence dietary choice with a shift towards adherence to celebrity chef culinary. However the extent of this influence remains unclear, particularly in Australia. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults concerning popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and whether it is perceived that exposure to such programmes influences dietary choice and behaviour. For the purpose of the present study, we defined the term ‘celebrity chef’ as men and women who have become popular chefs through television exposure, each of whom has their own style of communicating with their audience. Methods Participants and recruitment This was a cross-sectional study amongst males and females recruited from within the community in Adelaide, South Australia
either via hard copy advertisements or social media requesting participation in an anonymous online questionnaire. Participants were recruited between September 2014 and January 2015. Qualtrics™ survey software was used to construct and distribute the questionnaire. The study protocol and potential risks were clearly outlined to all interested participants electronically before commencement of the questionnaire. A link to the survey was sent via email to all participants who provided informed consent with the survey link remaining active until first opened. Participants were eligible to participate if they were aged ≥18 years and currently watching or have previously watched any series of a television cooking programme. Exclusion criterion were those <18 years. This study was conducted according to the guidelines described in the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the University of South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (Protocol: 0000032600). Online questionnaire Attitudes and beliefs about popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs was assessed using a 22-item selfadministered online questionnaire designed to be completed in ~10 minutes. Given the lack of validated and reliable survey instrument which can accurately measure the potential influence of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on dietary behaviour, the authors developed a prototype questionnaire which was initially piloted against a separate reference sample at the University of South Australia. This piloted questionnaire assessed participant attitudes and beliefs towards television cooking programmes, celebrity chefs and their perceived influence on dietary behaviour, using a series of 5-point Likert scale (ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) and open ended questioning. The questionnaire was piloted using a 3-stage process; testing the design, content and online delivery method; the reference sample (n = 112) included academic colleagues and students at the University of South Australia. Additional written feedback was also invited following completion of the questionnaire to facilitate the identification of any questions that were perceived as ambiguous or required further development. Analysis of the piloted questionnaire and the additional feedback provided by the reference sample was conducted by the authors using thematic analysis where individual responses were coded and categorized into common themes. The outcome of these common themes resulted in the development of a modified self-administered online questionnaire (22items) which included multiple-choice and rank order questions. The final questionnaire consisted of two separate domains; 1) attitudes, beliefs and perceived influence on dietary behaviour related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs; 2) sociodemographic data and self-reported anthropometry (height and weight) (see Appendix S1). No time restrictions were placed on participants whilst completing the questionnaire. The link to the survey was recognizable once only to the server it was sent thus preventing duplication when responding to the survey. Once the link was initially opened, the questionnaire remained open until responses were submitted; however participants were not required to answer all questions before proceeding to subsequent questions. Statistical analyses Analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows 21.0 software (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Unless otherwise stated, all continuous variables were presented as mean (SD) with categorical data presented as frequencies or percentages. All tests were evaluated for normality using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic and multiple regression diagnostics were run to ensure assumptions of multicollinearity and homoscedasticity were not violated.
A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
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Table 1 Participant characteristics.a,*
Age (years) Weight (kg) BMI (km/m2) Highest level of education (n) % Secondary Diploma or equivalent certificate Apprenticeship/trade Undergraduate Honours degree Postgraduate Employment status (n) % Full-time Part-time Casual Full-time student Unemployed Retired
Males (n = 22)
Females (n = 128)
All (n = 150)
P*
39.0 (13.9) 87.7 (17.5) 26.7 (4.5)
38.4 (14.1) 65.5 (16.0) 24.1 (5.7)
38.4 (14.0) 68.8 (18.0) 24.5 (5.6)
NS < 0.001 0.04
1 (4.5%) 3 (13.6%) 1 (4.5%) 8 (36.4%) 1 (4.5%) 8 (36.4%)
24 (18.8%) 12 (9.4%) 3 (2.3%) 33 (25.8% 11 (8.6% 45 (35.2%)
25 (16.6%) 15 (10%) 4 (2.6%) 41 (27.3%) 12 (8%) 53 (35.3%)
15 (68.2%) 1 (4.5%) 2 (9.1%) 1 (4.5%) 1 (4.5%) 2 (9.1%)
56 (43.8%) 32 (25%) 16 (12.5%) 15 (11.7%) 4 (3.1%) 5 (3.9%)
71 (47.3%) 33 (22%) 18 (12%) 16 (10.7% 5 (3.3%) 7 (4.7%)
a All such values presented as the mean (SD). * Significance between genders assessed by independent samples t-test (P < 0.05). NS; non-significant.
Independent samples t-tests were used to determine differences in demographic and anthropometric characteristics between genders. Using a 2 × 2 contingency table, chi-square analysis using Yates’ correction for continuity were conducted on the pooled aggregate of responses related to the degree of healthiness perceived by participants for recipes used on television cooking programmes. All data were included in the final analyses. Results A total of n = 207 participants undertook the questionnaire; with fully completed questionnaires available for n = 150 participants (Males, n = 22; Females, n = 128). Demographic and anthropometric characteristics are presented in Table 1. Significant anthropometric differences were observed with males having a greater BMI (P = 0.04) relative to females. More than two-thirds of respondents had
tertiary qualifications from university (n = 106; 70.6%); almost half of all respondents had full-time employment (n = 71; 47.3%). Duration spent watching television cooking programmes Almost three-quarters of all respondents (total responses, n = 153/ 207; 74%) watched between >0 minutes and <30 minutes of any series of a television cooking programme per day. When participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking series they would preferentially watch, Master Chef Australia (n = 133/851; 16%), Jamie Oliver (n = 133/851; 16%), and My Kitchen Rules (n = 111/851; 13%) were the three most watched programmes (Fig. 1). New cooking ideas (total responses, n = 81/175; 46.2%) and entertainment (total responses, n = 64/175; 36.5%) were the two main reasons attracting participants to watch these programmes. Almost three quarters (total responses, n = 130/175; 74.2%) of respondents reported having
140
Total frequency of responses
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Master Chef
Jamie Oliver (any series)
My Kitchen Rules
Food Safari
Nigella Gordon Good Ready Alive and Lawson Ramsay Chef Bad Steady Cooking (any (any Chef Cook series) series)
Other
* All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking programme they would normally watch.
Fig. 1. Most frequently watched television cooking programme. All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking programme they would normally watch.
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use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt (unhealthy: 24%; healthy: 7%; P = < 0.0001). Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 67/151; 44.3%) believed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have no impact on their habitual dietary intake (Fig. 3).
25%
30%
Discussion
YES NO UNSURE
45% *
All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses.
Fig. 2. Participant belief relating to whether celebrity chefs are qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice. All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses.
previously attempted a recipe from a television cooking programme. When asked about the frequency of using any type of recipe from a television cooking programme, almost two-thirds of respondents (total responses, n = 114/175; 65.1%) stated using a recipe once or twice per month. Attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 79/167; 47.3%) indicated that many recipes from television cooking programmes or those promoted by celebrity chefs are too difficult and time consuming. Almost half of all respondents believed celebrity chefs are not qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice to the general public (total responses, n = 68/151; 45%) (Fig. 2). Significantly more respondents believed recipes from television cooking programmes
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Australian study to investigate the attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and the perceived influence on dietary behaviour. Results of the present study suggest that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to influence habitual dietary behaviour; rather, vicarious viewing and entertainment appear as more important factors relating to why individuals watch these programmes. Importantly however, these results are descriptive and mostly subjective and therefore further investigation into the impact of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on behavioural change warrants attention. In recent years it would appear that television has been a fundamental medium in disseminating the popularity of celebrity chefs and food programming (Phillipov, 2012, 2013). As a consequence the role of a celebrity chef has shifted from someone who provides cookery advice to that of a performer and entertainer (Chiaro, 2008; De Solier, 2005; Lane & Fisher, 2015). Results from the present study are consistent with previous literature suggesting that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are primarily viewed for entertainment, supporting the notion of vicarious viewing (Caraher, Lange, & Dixon, 2000; Lane & Fisher, 2015). In a qualitative study conducted in the United Kingdom, Caraher et al. (2000) suggested that the general public are unlikely to be passive consumers of television cooking programmes; rather, it was revealed that television cooking programmes have an impact on the aesthetics of viewing, suggesting vicarious consumption through food media. This hypothesis supports that viewers of such programmes embrace celebrity chef culinary within the confines of their living rooms without necessarily translating to behavioural or habitual dietary change secondary to restrictions related to time, money,
80
Total frequency of responses
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 No impact
Greater Encouraged Greater use Greater use awareness of greater of of olive oil nutritional butter/cream variety of quality of foods food
Greater Greater use Greater of salt intake of intake of fish fruits and vegetables
* All such data is presented as the frequency of the total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order how television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have influenced their usual dietary behaviour.
Fig. 3. Frequency of responses related to participant belief as to whether celebrity chefs and television cooking programmes influence habitual dietary intake. All such data are presented as the frequency of the total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order how television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have influenced their usual dietary behaviour.
A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
health or confidence. In contrast however, results of the present study further suggest that a high proportion of respondents also watch television cooking programmes to seek new cooking ideas and to gain new skills related to cookery. This was also supported in a recent study conducted amongst university students with a high proportion of respondents also revealing recipe ideas and new cooking techniques being strong motives for watching television cooking programmes (Lane & Fisher, 2015). This supports the idea that some viewers do learn cooking skills from culinary television rather than perceiving it as entertainment per se. Results from the present study and those reported by Lane and Fisher (2015) support the idea that celebrity chefs and television cooking programmes are also viewed as a tool to assist people expand their cookery knowledge and promote basic cooking skills. There appears consensus within the literature suggesting that a decline or a devaluing of food preparation skills and the increased availability of energy dense convenience foods or readymade meals are key contributors towards the obesity crisis amongst western societies (Engler-Stringer, 2010; Lichtenstein & Ludwig, 2010; Swinburn et al., 2011; van der Horst, Brunner, & Siegrist, 2011). Despite once being taught in schools under the domain of health economics, cooking is now rarely a component of the teaching curriculum, and as a modern society there now appears a marked reduction in the opportunities made available to foster domestic meal preparation and basic cooking skills (Begley & Gallegos, 2010; Lichtenstein & Ludwig, 2010). However the existence of a celebrity chef food culture has potential to promote healthy dietary patterns, healthy cooking and improved cooking confidence. A clear example of this can be seen from the development of Jamie Oliver, a UK based celebrity chef. Originally developed in the UK, the Jamie Oliver group has established a community focused programme which has been adapted for the Australian setting aiming to increase knowledge, skills and self-efficacy related to healthy eating, food and cooking (Flego et al., 2013; Herbert et al., 2014). Using a mixed method, quasiexperimental longitudinal evaluation of the Jamie Oliver community based cooking programme, Herbert et al. (2014) reported that the 10-week programme resulted in improvements in participants’ attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and enjoyment around cooking and healthy eating, which were sustained six months after the programme. In contrast however, a recent randomized control feeding study demonstrated that college students who were exposed to a short television cooking programme consumed significantly more calories from sweet foods compared with participants exposed to a nature programme (Bodenlos & Wormuth, 2013); however, the study sample used were college students of a relatively healthy BMI. Moreover, further analyses of these results also highlighted that overall caloric intake did not differ between groups, suggesting further research in a heterogeneous sample is required to elucidate the role of television food programming on dietary behaviour. Almost half of all respondents in the present study believed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have no impact on their habitual dietary intake. This result is also consistent in both studies conducted by Lane and Fisher (2015) and Caraher et al. (2000) suggesting that the influence of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on habitual dietary behaviour is limited. Their importance however may be to influence or broaden cultural trends (Caraher et al., 2000); for example, in the present study over one quarter of respondents also revealed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have encouraged them to try a greater variety of foods. Due to their elevated profile, many celebrity chefs now possess commercial importance in sales strategies and marketing campaigns, with many celebrity chefs now lending their personality to product endorsement or even the promotion of popular ‘fad’ diets (Henderson, 2011). The likely outcome of advocating food products or ‘fad’ diets that contradict current nutritional guidelines may exacerbate uncertainty and confusion amongst the
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general public, which may indeed impact long-term dietary behaviour. Despite our results showing that significantly more respondents believed recipes from television cooking programmes use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt, one-third of respondents were ‘unsure’ whether celebrity chefs were appropriately qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice. The study conducted by Caraher et al. (2000) revealed that the majority of participants interviewed treated health or dietary advice provided by celebrity chefs with caution. Conversely, there is a possibility that the provision of food and nutrition advice delivered by health professionals may easily be dismissed, ignored or rejected by the general public depending on the style of its communication (Phillipov, 2012). Therefore, despite the potential challenges, media comment from television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs do provide an alternative medium for health advocates to collaborate in the communication of evidence based nutrition guidelines whilst acknowledging the pleasures of food, rather than solely focusing on the ‘unhealthy’ aspects of television cookery. Despite our results suggesting that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to influence habitual dietary behaviour, it should be acknowledged that culinary television now draws upon a broader audience; participants in the present study were not representative of a nutritionally ‘at risk’ group thus limiting the generalizability of these results. Moreover, females responded to the questionnaire at higher rates than males; however this is to be expected with cookery programming which is more likely to be viewed by females relative to males (De Solier, 2005; Lane & Fisher, 2015). Results from Caraher et al. (2000) showed that the tendency towards watching television cooking programmes was both classed and gendered; specifically these results highlighted that the propensity to use television as a source of culinary education was greater amongst women than men, and ‘upper-class’ professionals relative to labourers (Caraher et al., 2000). An additional limitation in the present study was the timing of the questionnaire, which was administered during the ‘off season’ of many popular Australian television cooking programmes. It is plausible, therefore that responses related to attitudes and believes may not necessarily reflect those that are observed when these programmes are regularly aired. Despite being beyond the scope of the present study, whether exposure to television cooking programmes directly impacts dietary behaviour, rather than perceived influence, remains unknown. Irrespective of these limitations, future research should either involve laboratory based randomized control feeding studies investigating short-term dietary intake and behaviour; or, prospective observational studies in a heterogeneous sample to investigate long-term intake and changes in behaviour. Lastly, a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs against national healthy eating benchmarks is warranted. In conclusion, the results of our study provide an understanding of the attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and their perceived influence on dietary behaviour. Our results suggest that television cooking programmes provide a genre within which viewers can achieve vicarious experiences of the pleasures of food. However our results, at least in part, further suggest that some viewers do, in fact, watch cookery shows for education purposes to expand on their cookery knowledge. Future research that includes a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by cookery shows and celebrity chefs, in addition to further exploration of their potential impact on behaviour, which may include food, ingredient or dietary preferences is warranted. Appendix: Supplementary material Supplementary data to this article can be found online at doi:10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.021.
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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Appetite j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a p p e t
Research report
Attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults on reality television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. Is there cause for concern? Descriptive analysis presented from a consumer survey ☆ A.M. Villani *, T. Egan, J.B. Keogh, P.M. Clifton School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
A R T I C L E
I N F O
Article history: Received 7 February 2015 Received in revised form 19 March 2015 Accepted 22 March 2015 Available online 27 March 2015 Keywords: Dietary behaviour Celebrity chefs Television cooking programmes
A B S T R A C T
Background: There is evidence suggesting that the nutritional content of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs or television cooking programmes contradict healthy eating guidelines. This study aims to investigate people’s attitudes and beliefs about popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs. Methods: Males and females who watch television cooking programmes were recruited to participate in a self-administered online questionnaire (22-items) which included multiple-choice and rank order questions. Results: A total of n = 207 participants undertook the questionnaire with fully completed questionnaires available for n = 150 participants (Males, n = 22; Females, n = 128; aged 38.4 ± 14 years). The majority of respondents watch ≤30 minutes of television cooking programming per day (total responses, n = 153/ 207; 74%) with almost three-quarters (total responses, n = 130/175; 74%) having attempted a recipe. New cooking ideas (total responses, n = 81/175; 46%) and entertainment (total responses, n = 64/175; 36.5%) were the two main reasons participants gave for watching these programmes. Significantly more respondents believed recipes use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt (unhealthy: 24%; healthy: 7%; P < 0.0001). Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 67/151; 44%) believed these programmes have no impact on their habitual diet. Discussion and Conclusion: Our results suggest television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to impact habitual dietary intake; rather, vicarious viewing and entertainment appear important factors relating to why people watch these programmes. However results generated from the present study are descriptive and subjective and further investigation into the impact of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on behavioural change requires attention. Further investigation including a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs against national healthy eating benchmarks is also warranted. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction The global rise of overweight and obesity now dominates population health priorities across most western countries. In 2008, a systematic analysis of epidemiological studies involving 199 countries estimated 1.46 billion adults as overweight (body-mass index
☆ Acknowledgements: None of the authors other than PMC has any conflict of interest in relation to the present study. PMC is on the board of the Good Foundation which runs Jamie Oliver cooking courses in Australia. No funding is declared. JBK and PMC were responsible for designing the study, analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. AMV was responsible for designing the questionnaire, analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. TE was responsible for analysing and interpreting the data and preparing the manuscript. The authors would also like to acknowledge Ms Fiona Clarke, a Masters of Dietetics student at the University of South Australia who assisted piloting the original questionnaire. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version submitted for publication. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.M. Villani).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.021 0195-6663/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
(BMI) >25 kg/m2) and of these, 502 million were obese (BMI >30 kg/ m2) (Finucane et al., 2011; Swinburn et al., 2011; Wang, McPherson, Marsh, Gortmaker, & Brown, 2011). Factors that influence dietary choice and behaviour are complex, resulting from an interplay between multiple influences across numerous contexts (Lake & Townshend, 2006; Papas et al., 2007; Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O’Brien, & Glanz, 2008). Perhaps one of the major drivers contributing to an ‘obesogenic’ environment originates from within the food system, which includes persuasive food marketing and the promotion of sedentary behaviour such as television viewing (Chandon & Wansink, 2012; Chaput, Klingenberg, Astrup, & Sjödin, 2011; Swinburn et al., 2011). Parallel with this is the advent of television cooking shows and other forms of food programming that now dominate television screens all of which are accessible sources of food and nutrition information for consumers (De Solier, 2005; Ketchum, 2005; Phillipov, 2013). In conjunction with the considerable increase in the number of television cooking programmes, there has been development in the variety of such shows reflecting contemporary popular
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A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
programming formats; specifically, this ranges from the more traditional cooking programmes focusing on the delivery of recipe information and food knowledge to that of game shows and reality television cooking where the focus is on entertainment rather than cookery instruction. Given their viewer popularity, there appears to be a shift in the broadcasting schedule for such programmes from traditional daytime television, to now occupying prime-time slots which has resulted in new ratings records for the most watched nonsporting event in Australia (De Solier, 2005; Phillipov, 2013). As a consequence, several countries, including Australia, now have entire television channels devoted to food and cooking where it is now possible to watch food television all day, every day (De Solier, 2005). Furthermore these programmes, with the aid of celebrity chefs, are often used to promote well-known food and beverage brands in aggressive and collaborative marketing strategies (Jones, Freeth, Hennessy-Priest, & Costa, 2013). In many popular television cooking programmes, high energy foods such as butter, cream and fatty red meat are on display and are emphasized through the programmes’ narratives and camera work techniques (Phillipov, 2013). Moreover, ‘unhealthy’ fats such as butter and cream are typically central to numerous dishes prepared on various television cooking programmes with celebrity chefs and contestants often shown enjoying such dishes with unrestrained pleasure (Phillipov, 2012, 2013). Such a focus on culinary pleasure rather than healthy eating is arguably a significant contributor towards the popularity of these shows. There is some evidence suggesting a ‘knock-on’ effect from exposure to reality television cooking programmes and the retail industry. Cleanthous et al. (2010) reported a 9.3% increase in the sale of butter in 2009 whilst a 2.3% reduction was observed for the volume of unsaturated margarines sold in the same year. The authors speculated that food media and culture played a major role in influencing consumer choice of butter over unsaturated margarine spreads for use in recipes (Cleanthous et al., 2010). At present, there are no regulations on what celebrity chefs can present regarding food and nutrition knowledge (Jones et al., 2013). At times, recipes or ingredients promoted by celebrity chefs are presented as being healthy, perhaps giving the impression that all meals cooked by celebrity chefs are healthy (Howard, Adams, & White, 2012). However, a systematic nutritional analysis of such recipes, particularly in an Australian context, has not been published. Two recent nutritional analysis studies conducted in the United Kingdom highlighted that the general trend for recipes derived from celebrity chefs contain excessive amounts of total fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and are low in dietary fibre, all of which contradict healthy eating benchmark recommendations globally (Howard et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2013). Given the frequency and popularity of reality television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, it is plausible that an increased viewing time may influence dietary choice with a shift towards adherence to celebrity chef culinary. However the extent of this influence remains unclear, particularly in Australia. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of Australian adults concerning popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and whether it is perceived that exposure to such programmes influences dietary choice and behaviour. For the purpose of the present study, we defined the term ‘celebrity chef’ as men and women who have become popular chefs through television exposure, each of whom has their own style of communicating with their audience. Methods Participants and recruitment This was a cross-sectional study amongst males and females recruited from within the community in Adelaide, South Australia
either via hard copy advertisements or social media requesting participation in an anonymous online questionnaire. Participants were recruited between September 2014 and January 2015. Qualtrics™ survey software was used to construct and distribute the questionnaire. The study protocol and potential risks were clearly outlined to all interested participants electronically before commencement of the questionnaire. A link to the survey was sent via email to all participants who provided informed consent with the survey link remaining active until first opened. Participants were eligible to participate if they were aged ≥18 years and currently watching or have previously watched any series of a television cooking programme. Exclusion criterion were those <18 years. This study was conducted according to the guidelines described in the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the University of South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (Protocol: 0000032600). Online questionnaire Attitudes and beliefs about popular television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs was assessed using a 22-item selfadministered online questionnaire designed to be completed in ~10 minutes. Given the lack of validated and reliable survey instrument which can accurately measure the potential influence of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on dietary behaviour, the authors developed a prototype questionnaire which was initially piloted against a separate reference sample at the University of South Australia. This piloted questionnaire assessed participant attitudes and beliefs towards television cooking programmes, celebrity chefs and their perceived influence on dietary behaviour, using a series of 5-point Likert scale (ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) and open ended questioning. The questionnaire was piloted using a 3-stage process; testing the design, content and online delivery method; the reference sample (n = 112) included academic colleagues and students at the University of South Australia. Additional written feedback was also invited following completion of the questionnaire to facilitate the identification of any questions that were perceived as ambiguous or required further development. Analysis of the piloted questionnaire and the additional feedback provided by the reference sample was conducted by the authors using thematic analysis where individual responses were coded and categorized into common themes. The outcome of these common themes resulted in the development of a modified self-administered online questionnaire (22items) which included multiple-choice and rank order questions. The final questionnaire consisted of two separate domains; 1) attitudes, beliefs and perceived influence on dietary behaviour related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs; 2) sociodemographic data and self-reported anthropometry (height and weight) (see Appendix S1). No time restrictions were placed on participants whilst completing the questionnaire. The link to the survey was recognizable once only to the server it was sent thus preventing duplication when responding to the survey. Once the link was initially opened, the questionnaire remained open until responses were submitted; however participants were not required to answer all questions before proceeding to subsequent questions. Statistical analyses Analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows 21.0 software (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Unless otherwise stated, all continuous variables were presented as mean (SD) with categorical data presented as frequencies or percentages. All tests were evaluated for normality using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic and multiple regression diagnostics were run to ensure assumptions of multicollinearity and homoscedasticity were not violated.
A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
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Table 1 Participant characteristics.a,*
Age (years) Weight (kg) BMI (km/m2) Highest level of education (n) % Secondary Diploma or equivalent certificate Apprenticeship/trade Undergraduate Honours degree Postgraduate Employment status (n) % Full-time Part-time Casual Full-time student Unemployed Retired
Males (n = 22)
Females (n = 128)
All (n = 150)
P*
39.0 (13.9) 87.7 (17.5) 26.7 (4.5)
38.4 (14.1) 65.5 (16.0) 24.1 (5.7)
38.4 (14.0) 68.8 (18.0) 24.5 (5.6)
NS < 0.001 0.04
1 (4.5%) 3 (13.6%) 1 (4.5%) 8 (36.4%) 1 (4.5%) 8 (36.4%)
24 (18.8%) 12 (9.4%) 3 (2.3%) 33 (25.8% 11 (8.6% 45 (35.2%)
25 (16.6%) 15 (10%) 4 (2.6%) 41 (27.3%) 12 (8%) 53 (35.3%)
15 (68.2%) 1 (4.5%) 2 (9.1%) 1 (4.5%) 1 (4.5%) 2 (9.1%)
56 (43.8%) 32 (25%) 16 (12.5%) 15 (11.7%) 4 (3.1%) 5 (3.9%)
71 (47.3%) 33 (22%) 18 (12%) 16 (10.7% 5 (3.3%) 7 (4.7%)
a All such values presented as the mean (SD). * Significance between genders assessed by independent samples t-test (P < 0.05). NS; non-significant.
Independent samples t-tests were used to determine differences in demographic and anthropometric characteristics between genders. Using a 2 × 2 contingency table, chi-square analysis using Yates’ correction for continuity were conducted on the pooled aggregate of responses related to the degree of healthiness perceived by participants for recipes used on television cooking programmes. All data were included in the final analyses. Results A total of n = 207 participants undertook the questionnaire; with fully completed questionnaires available for n = 150 participants (Males, n = 22; Females, n = 128). Demographic and anthropometric characteristics are presented in Table 1. Significant anthropometric differences were observed with males having a greater BMI (P = 0.04) relative to females. More than two-thirds of respondents had
tertiary qualifications from university (n = 106; 70.6%); almost half of all respondents had full-time employment (n = 71; 47.3%). Duration spent watching television cooking programmes Almost three-quarters of all respondents (total responses, n = 153/ 207; 74%) watched between >0 minutes and <30 minutes of any series of a television cooking programme per day. When participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking series they would preferentially watch, Master Chef Australia (n = 133/851; 16%), Jamie Oliver (n = 133/851; 16%), and My Kitchen Rules (n = 111/851; 13%) were the three most watched programmes (Fig. 1). New cooking ideas (total responses, n = 81/175; 46.2%) and entertainment (total responses, n = 64/175; 36.5%) were the two main reasons attracting participants to watch these programmes. Almost three quarters (total responses, n = 130/175; 74.2%) of respondents reported having
140
Total frequency of responses
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Master Chef
Jamie Oliver (any series)
My Kitchen Rules
Food Safari
Nigella Gordon Good Ready Alive and Lawson Ramsay Chef Bad Steady Cooking (any (any Chef Cook series) series)
Other
* All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking programme they would normally watch.
Fig. 1. Most frequently watched television cooking programme. All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order which television cooking programme they would normally watch.
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A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt (unhealthy: 24%; healthy: 7%; P = < 0.0001). Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 67/151; 44.3%) believed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have no impact on their habitual dietary intake (Fig. 3).
25%
30%
Discussion
YES NO UNSURE
45% *
All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses.
Fig. 2. Participant belief relating to whether celebrity chefs are qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice. All such data presented as the frequency of total number of responses.
previously attempted a recipe from a television cooking programme. When asked about the frequency of using any type of recipe from a television cooking programme, almost two-thirds of respondents (total responses, n = 114/175; 65.1%) stated using a recipe once or twice per month. Attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs Almost half of all respondents (total responses, n = 79/167; 47.3%) indicated that many recipes from television cooking programmes or those promoted by celebrity chefs are too difficult and time consuming. Almost half of all respondents believed celebrity chefs are not qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice to the general public (total responses, n = 68/151; 45%) (Fig. 2). Significantly more respondents believed recipes from television cooking programmes
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Australian study to investigate the attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and the perceived influence on dietary behaviour. Results of the present study suggest that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to influence habitual dietary behaviour; rather, vicarious viewing and entertainment appear as more important factors relating to why individuals watch these programmes. Importantly however, these results are descriptive and mostly subjective and therefore further investigation into the impact of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on behavioural change warrants attention. In recent years it would appear that television has been a fundamental medium in disseminating the popularity of celebrity chefs and food programming (Phillipov, 2012, 2013). As a consequence the role of a celebrity chef has shifted from someone who provides cookery advice to that of a performer and entertainer (Chiaro, 2008; De Solier, 2005; Lane & Fisher, 2015). Results from the present study are consistent with previous literature suggesting that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are primarily viewed for entertainment, supporting the notion of vicarious viewing (Caraher, Lange, & Dixon, 2000; Lane & Fisher, 2015). In a qualitative study conducted in the United Kingdom, Caraher et al. (2000) suggested that the general public are unlikely to be passive consumers of television cooking programmes; rather, it was revealed that television cooking programmes have an impact on the aesthetics of viewing, suggesting vicarious consumption through food media. This hypothesis supports that viewers of such programmes embrace celebrity chef culinary within the confines of their living rooms without necessarily translating to behavioural or habitual dietary change secondary to restrictions related to time, money,
80
Total frequency of responses
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 No impact
Greater Encouraged Greater use Greater use awareness of greater of of olive oil nutritional butter/cream variety of quality of foods food
Greater Greater use Greater of salt intake of intake of fish fruits and vegetables
* All such data is presented as the frequency of the total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order how television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have influenced their usual dietary behaviour.
Fig. 3. Frequency of responses related to participant belief as to whether celebrity chefs and television cooking programmes influence habitual dietary intake. All such data are presented as the frequency of the total number of responses; participants were asked to rank in order how television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have influenced their usual dietary behaviour.
A.M. Villani et al./Appetite 91 (2015) 7–12
health or confidence. In contrast however, results of the present study further suggest that a high proportion of respondents also watch television cooking programmes to seek new cooking ideas and to gain new skills related to cookery. This was also supported in a recent study conducted amongst university students with a high proportion of respondents also revealing recipe ideas and new cooking techniques being strong motives for watching television cooking programmes (Lane & Fisher, 2015). This supports the idea that some viewers do learn cooking skills from culinary television rather than perceiving it as entertainment per se. Results from the present study and those reported by Lane and Fisher (2015) support the idea that celebrity chefs and television cooking programmes are also viewed as a tool to assist people expand their cookery knowledge and promote basic cooking skills. There appears consensus within the literature suggesting that a decline or a devaluing of food preparation skills and the increased availability of energy dense convenience foods or readymade meals are key contributors towards the obesity crisis amongst western societies (Engler-Stringer, 2010; Lichtenstein & Ludwig, 2010; Swinburn et al., 2011; van der Horst, Brunner, & Siegrist, 2011). Despite once being taught in schools under the domain of health economics, cooking is now rarely a component of the teaching curriculum, and as a modern society there now appears a marked reduction in the opportunities made available to foster domestic meal preparation and basic cooking skills (Begley & Gallegos, 2010; Lichtenstein & Ludwig, 2010). However the existence of a celebrity chef food culture has potential to promote healthy dietary patterns, healthy cooking and improved cooking confidence. A clear example of this can be seen from the development of Jamie Oliver, a UK based celebrity chef. Originally developed in the UK, the Jamie Oliver group has established a community focused programme which has been adapted for the Australian setting aiming to increase knowledge, skills and self-efficacy related to healthy eating, food and cooking (Flego et al., 2013; Herbert et al., 2014). Using a mixed method, quasiexperimental longitudinal evaluation of the Jamie Oliver community based cooking programme, Herbert et al. (2014) reported that the 10-week programme resulted in improvements in participants’ attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and enjoyment around cooking and healthy eating, which were sustained six months after the programme. In contrast however, a recent randomized control feeding study demonstrated that college students who were exposed to a short television cooking programme consumed significantly more calories from sweet foods compared with participants exposed to a nature programme (Bodenlos & Wormuth, 2013); however, the study sample used were college students of a relatively healthy BMI. Moreover, further analyses of these results also highlighted that overall caloric intake did not differ between groups, suggesting further research in a heterogeneous sample is required to elucidate the role of television food programming on dietary behaviour. Almost half of all respondents in the present study believed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have no impact on their habitual dietary intake. This result is also consistent in both studies conducted by Lane and Fisher (2015) and Caraher et al. (2000) suggesting that the influence of television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs on habitual dietary behaviour is limited. Their importance however may be to influence or broaden cultural trends (Caraher et al., 2000); for example, in the present study over one quarter of respondents also revealed that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs have encouraged them to try a greater variety of foods. Due to their elevated profile, many celebrity chefs now possess commercial importance in sales strategies and marketing campaigns, with many celebrity chefs now lending their personality to product endorsement or even the promotion of popular ‘fad’ diets (Henderson, 2011). The likely outcome of advocating food products or ‘fad’ diets that contradict current nutritional guidelines may exacerbate uncertainty and confusion amongst the
11
general public, which may indeed impact long-term dietary behaviour. Despite our results showing that significantly more respondents believed recipes from television cooking programmes use excessive amounts of unhealthy fat, sugar or salt, one-third of respondents were ‘unsure’ whether celebrity chefs were appropriately qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice. The study conducted by Caraher et al. (2000) revealed that the majority of participants interviewed treated health or dietary advice provided by celebrity chefs with caution. Conversely, there is a possibility that the provision of food and nutrition advice delivered by health professionals may easily be dismissed, ignored or rejected by the general public depending on the style of its communication (Phillipov, 2012). Therefore, despite the potential challenges, media comment from television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs do provide an alternative medium for health advocates to collaborate in the communication of evidence based nutrition guidelines whilst acknowledging the pleasures of food, rather than solely focusing on the ‘unhealthy’ aspects of television cookery. Despite our results suggesting that television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs are unlikely to influence habitual dietary behaviour, it should be acknowledged that culinary television now draws upon a broader audience; participants in the present study were not representative of a nutritionally ‘at risk’ group thus limiting the generalizability of these results. Moreover, females responded to the questionnaire at higher rates than males; however this is to be expected with cookery programming which is more likely to be viewed by females relative to males (De Solier, 2005; Lane & Fisher, 2015). Results from Caraher et al. (2000) showed that the tendency towards watching television cooking programmes was both classed and gendered; specifically these results highlighted that the propensity to use television as a source of culinary education was greater amongst women than men, and ‘upper-class’ professionals relative to labourers (Caraher et al., 2000). An additional limitation in the present study was the timing of the questionnaire, which was administered during the ‘off season’ of many popular Australian television cooking programmes. It is plausible, therefore that responses related to attitudes and believes may not necessarily reflect those that are observed when these programmes are regularly aired. Despite being beyond the scope of the present study, whether exposure to television cooking programmes directly impacts dietary behaviour, rather than perceived influence, remains unknown. Irrespective of these limitations, future research should either involve laboratory based randomized control feeding studies investigating short-term dietary intake and behaviour; or, prospective observational studies in a heterogeneous sample to investigate long-term intake and changes in behaviour. Lastly, a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by celebrity chefs against national healthy eating benchmarks is warranted. In conclusion, the results of our study provide an understanding of the attitudes and beliefs related to television cooking programmes and celebrity chefs, and their perceived influence on dietary behaviour. Our results suggest that television cooking programmes provide a genre within which viewers can achieve vicarious experiences of the pleasures of food. However our results, at least in part, further suggest that some viewers do, in fact, watch cookery shows for education purposes to expand on their cookery knowledge. Future research that includes a systematic investigation into the dietary quality of recipes promoted by cookery shows and celebrity chefs, in addition to further exploration of their potential impact on behaviour, which may include food, ingredient or dietary preferences is warranted. Appendix: Supplementary material Supplementary data to this article can be found online at doi:10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.021.
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