Objective: To evaluate whether meal patterns and cooking practices in Central England and Mediterranean France conform to popular stereotypes, eating together as a household, preparation of meals, food purchasing patterns, cooking practices and eating out were investigated. Design: Cross-sectional studies conducted simultaneously in April 2001 using self-administered postal questionnaires. Setting: England (Nottingham, East Midlands) and France (Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon). Subjects: A stratified random sample of 1000 males and 1000 females aged 18–65 years was generated from the electoral roll in each country. The final sample comprised 826 subjects in England (58% males, 42% females; mean age 44 years) and 766 subjects in France (42% males, 58% females; mean age 42 years). Analyses were conducted on samples standardised for sociodemographic differences. Results: The French cooked from raw ingredients most often (P < 0.001), ate together as a household more regularly (P < 0.001) and were most likely to follow a regular meal pattern of three meals a day. On the other hand, the English relied more on ready-prepared (P < 0.001) and take-away (P < 0.001) meals, as well as on energy-dense snack foods such as crisps (P < 0.001). Females in both countries reported having most responsibility for preparing meals. Conclusions: Some of the study's findings confirm popular stereotypes of French and English food cultures, as the importance of the convivial aspects of eating, as well as more traditional practices such as cooking meals from basic ingredients, structured mealtimes and less between-meal snacking, remain more prominent within the French population. This may contribute to the differences in prevalence of obesity seen between the two countries.

In the UK people living in disadvantaged communities are less likely than those with higher socio-economic status to have a healthy diet. To address this inequality, it is crucial scientists, practitioners and policy makers understand the factors that hinder and assist healthy food choice in these individuals. In this scoping review, we aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to healthy eating among disadvantaged individuals living in the UK. Additionally, we used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to synthesise results and provide a guide for the development of theory-informed behaviour change interventions. Five databases were searched, (CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) for articles assessing healthy dietary intake of disadvantaged adults living in the UK. A total of 50 papers (34 quantitative; 16 qualitative) were included in this review. Across all studies we identified 78 barriers and 49 facilitators found to either impede and/or encourage healthy eating. Both barriers and facilitators were more commonly classified under the Environmental, Context and Resources TDF domain, with 74% of studies assessing at least one factor pertaining to this domain. Results thus indicate that context related factors such as high cost and accessibility of healthy food, rather than personal factors, such as lack of efficiency in healthy lifestyle drive unhealthy eating in disadvantaged individuals in the UK. We discuss how such factors are largely overlooked in current interventions and propose that more effort should be directed towards implementing interventions that specifically target infrastructures rather than individuals.

Background: This study investigates patterns of food shopping and availability of fruit and vegetables and snack foods in a northern European (Central England) and southern European region (Southern France). Methods: Two studies were conducted in England (Nottingham) and France (Montpellier): (i) Cross-sectional population surveys using self-administered postal questionnaires to assess type of outlets used for food shopping in random population samples (England: n = 826; Montpellier: n = 766). (ii) Food availability studies to determine: the number of food outlets in defined comparable geographical areas; the number stocking fruit and vegetables, their quality and energy dense snacks. Results: The English respondents used supermarkets most regularly (P < 0.001), whereas the French preferred to use smaller local shops, such as bakers (P < 0.001), butchers (P < 0.001) and markets (P < 0.001). Overall a larger proportion of outlets in Montpellier than Nottingham sold fresh fruit and vegetables and a wider variety of fresh fruit. However, a range of vegetables and all other types of fruit were as widely available in English shops. Although the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables tended to be better in Montpellier, the difference was not significant. Crisps (P < 0.05) and confectionary items (P < 0.05) were more widely available in England. Conclusions: Food shopping was done ‘under one roof’ more often in England, whereas in France, shopping was done in smaller specialist shops, which was reflected in their presence within the locality. Even though availability of fruit and vegetables was good in both countries, snack foods were more abundant in England. This clearly impacts on the food environment and could explain the higher prevalence of obesity in England, factors which are also influenced by culture, habits and convenience.

The UK food system is distorted by inequalities in access, failing the people most in need, yet it should provide access to safe, nutritious affordable food for all citizens. Dietary patterns are associated with socio-demographic characteristics, with high levels of diet-related disease mortality attributed to poor dietary habits. Disadvantaged UK communities face urgent public health challenges, yet are often treated as powerless recipients of dietary and health initiatives. The need for food system transformation has been illustrated within recent UK government policy drivers and research funding. The Food Systems Equality project is a research consortium that aims to ‘co-produce healthy and sustainable food systems for disadvantaged communities’. The project focusses on innovating food products, supply chains and policies, placing communities at the centre of the change. Tackling the above issues requires new ways of working. Creative approaches in food research are known to empower a wider range of individuals to share their ‘lived food experience’ narratives, building relationships and corroborating co-production philosophies, thus promoting social justice, and challenging more traditional positivist/reductionist ‘biomedical’ approaches for nutrition and food studies. This review paper critiques the use of community-centric approaches for food system transformation, focusing on one, a community food researcher model ⁽¹⁾ as an exemplar, to highlight their utility in advocating w ith rather than for less affluent communities. The potential for creative methods to lead to more equitable and lasting solutions for food system transformation is appraised, consolidating the need for community-driven systemic change to foster more progressive and inclusive approaches to strengthen social capital. The paper closes with practice insights and critical considerations offering recommendations for readers, researchers, and practitioners, enabling them to better understand and apply similar approaches.