Table 2.

Narratives and photographs on the theme ‘household members’ food preferences’

Accra	‘It’s because of my children that I mostly cook at home… At times I ask them what they want to eat and I prepare it and I also eat some of the food. The other day, they wanted to take in ‘Gari soakings’ (Cassava flour meal) and I did that for them and I also ate some.’ (Female, 19–49 years, lowest SES, A35).
Ho	‘These are my kids. They are the ones that sometimes tell me what we should eat, then I cook it. You can’t just cook whatever you want. Because it is not everyone who will eat what you want to eat. So you will ask, ‘what should we eat?’ and then the kids can say mama, let us eat this or let us cook that’ (Female, 19–49 years, lowest SES, H6).
Nairobi	‘These are (my) children eating ‘Githeri’ (cooked mixture of maize and beans), it is their favourite, and they make me cook it, every time… In fact, we eat it around 3–4 times a week. This is important… because I value and love them (my children)’ (Female, 19–49 years, low to middle SES, N11).
Accra	‘My husband likes fufu (yam or cassava flour meal) and soup, banku (fermented corn and cassava flour meal) and pepper and fish are his favourite. He loves soupy foods and because of that, I always cook at home, he does not encourage that we buy food from food vendors outside so he always encourage cooking at home’ (Female, 19–49 years, low-middle SES, A34).
Ho	‘I don’t really like yam, but as for them (husband and children), they like yam, they enjoy every day, so I have to prepare it for them. When I prepare it, he tells me to eat, so I take some and eat. They are the ones who make me eat’ (Female, 19–49 years, lowest SES, H13).
Nairobi	‘Most of the time, I am tired and I don’t have appetite but, my wife makes my eating easier, she influences me to eat because she knows the food that I like and the food that I like is traditional vegetables’ (Male, 19–49 years, low-middle SES, N30). ‘For ‘mrenda’ (jute mallow) most of the time I eat because I find that is what my wife has prepared in the house so I cannot leave it since I also like it’ (Male, 50 years and above, lowest SES, N38).