[Collective kitchens: the way to promote mental health]

Collective kitchens represent a relatively new social and community practice in the province of Quebec. They provide support that goes far beyond the food they supply, affecting the participants' life conditions and personal development. This qualitative study aimed to evaluate the effects that collective kitchens have on participants. We carried out semistructured interviews with a stratified sample of 25 people between the ages of 20 and 60, a majority of whom were single parents. These 20 women and 5 men were involved in 13 different groups for an average of 1 to 2 years. The results showed that the main reasons for participating in these groups were economic, nutritional, and psychosocial in nature. Prominent among the psychosocial reasons was a desire to overcome a feeling of isolation, which a majority of respondents perceived as one of the most disturbing features of their lives before they were involved in the collective kitchens. We identified 3 types of factors that influence the effects of the respondents' participation in collective kitchens: (a) factors related to the internal dynamics of each collective kitchen (their modes of functioning and organizational structure), (b) factors related to the personal situation of the participants and (c) factors related to the use of other services or to the participants' social involvement. The various effects differ not only in character (psychosocial, economic, nutritional, etc.) but also in the time they appeared in the participation process and in their direct or indirect links with participation in collective kitchens. It would be interesting in future research to evaluate whether the benefits of participation in collective kitchens identified in this study have a long-term impact on the lives of the people in these groups.