Exploring food security with collective kitchens participants in three Canadian cities.

Collective kitchens are small groups of people who pool their resources to cook large quantities of food. With the help of semi-participant observation and in-depth individual interviews, this study is an exploration of participants' perceptions of changes in food security since becoming involved in a collective kitchen. Several important themes emerged, including Increased Variety, Making Ends Meet, and Comparisons to Food Banks. Participants in groups that cooked large quantities of food (upwards of five meals monthly) reported some increases in their food resources. Participants also reported increased dignity associated with not having to access charitable resources to feed their families. Some participants reported decreased psychological distress associated with food insecurity. Overall, participants reported increases in food security; however, collective kitchens are not a long-term solution to the income-related food insecurity experienced by many Canadian families.