Contesting the ‘Good’ in Culinary Care: A Study on Valuation Practices in Culinary Care for People with Type 2 Diabetes in the Netherlands

Over the past two decades, there has been a dramatic surge in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in the Netherlands. Lifestyle changes play a major role in this development, which is why a substantial amount of care pertains to regulating and reversing type 2 diabetes by encouraging ‘healthier’ lifestyles. Culinary care, which refers to interventions aimed at encouraging ‘healthy’ food habits, is one such form of care. However, there exist dissonances among care providers and recipients involved in culinary care pertaining to what ‘good’ care is, which result in tensions when culinary care is provided in practice. In this thesis I address this issue by elaborating on the following question: What is ‘good’ culinary care for people with type 2 diabetes in the Netherlands? This thesis does not provide a conclusive answer to what ‘good’ culinary care is. Instead, I analyze how different actors care differently, and how ‘good’ care comes to mean different things in practice. I argue that – in culinary care – food, food practices, and bodies cannot be reduced to nutrients and numbers, and that care should instead be attentive to the social reality in which food, food practices, and bodies come to signify a certain ‘good’ in a specific context.