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The current pilot study explored food insecurity, food waste, food related behaviours and cooking confidence of UK consumers following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Data were collected from 473 UK-based consumers (63% female) in March 2020. A cross-sectional online survey measured variables including food insecurity prevalence, self-reported food waste, food management behaviours, confidence and frequency of use of a range of cooking methods, type of food eaten (ultra-processed, semi-finished, unprocessed) and packaging type foods are purchased in.

39% of participants have experienced some food insecurity in the last 12 months. Being younger, having a greater BMI and living in a smaller household were associated with food insecurity. Green leaves, carrots, potatoes and sliced bread are the most wasted of purchased foods. Polenta, green leaves and white rice are the most wasted cooked foods. Food secure participants reported wasting a smaller percentage of purchased and cooked foods compared to food insecure participants. Overall, participants were most confident about boiling, microwaving and stir-frying and least confident with using a pressure cooker or sous vide. Food secure participants were more confident with boiling, stir-frying, grilling and roasting than insecure food participants.

This has implications for post lockdown policy, including food policies and guidance for public-facing communications.

We identified novel differences in self-report food waste behaviours and cooking confidence between the food secure and insecure consumers and observed demographics associated with food insecurity.

The symbolic value of wine is a relevant research topic and raises the interest in studies in both the enological and market areas. In this context, this study aims to understand the role of the symbolic value of wine and its relationship to the product purchase intention.

The study is based on a survey of 269 wine consumers from Brazil. The basic theoretical framework includes three latent constructs (symbolic value, consumer attitude and product-norm experience) and three moderators (consumer involvement, willingness to pay and consumer preference). Relations between these are analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the moderated mediation analyses using Haye’s process.

This research identified that the symbolic value is totally mediated by consumers’ attitudes and product-norm experiences. However, such a relationship occurs directly for consumers with higher involvement with the product, higher willingness to pay, and who assume that wine is their preferred alcoholic beverage.

One of the contributions is to emphasize the symbolic value of wine and highlight how the relationship with different factors can interfere and explain consumer purchase intention and can influence the strategies, actions and investments of companies in the sector.