Objective:

This paper aims to examine food preparations made on a typical day in households benefiting from food programs for more than three decades in order to describe and compare food preparation and consumption practices across generations.

Methodology:

For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted using in-depth interviews within the oral history approach from the biographical method framework. Forty-five food program beneficiaries from three different generations living in the General Pueyrredón District (GPD)-Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and aged 18 to 30 years, 31 to 55 years old and over 56 years old, were interviewed.

Results:

The first generation shows a greater variety of ingredients in their preparations while the third and second generations exhibit a decrease in the consumption of vegetables. The most efficient food preparation is the stew due to its versatility in performance for multiple people or meals. The third generation makes preparations with less variety of nutrients and labels their meals as powerful.

Limitations:

This study does not analyze food intake for comparing it with nutritional recommendations, but rather, from a sociological approach, it explores common food preparations, food perceptions, and food access.

Conclusions:

Although taste is shaped by conditions of necessity, there are also degrees of freedom emerging as interstices where flavors, cooking knowledge, traditions, habits, dietary patterns, and intergenerational legacies filled with meanings and senses can be found.

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