The project explores the eating habits of older adults as a result of social influences, cultural patterns and transitions as well as the individual agency. The qualitative research approach (in-depth interviews and observation with visual methods) will be employed to describe the dynamics of the importance of food during ageing, both the subjective perception of this importance and the implemented practices and changes caused by health factors. The project identifies food as an important element of quality of life in old age and explores how eating habits are practiced in the home environment and how they are affected by living in institutional care, specifically in care homes. It is innovative in that it explores the agency of older adults in negotiating eating habits in various social and cultural contexts and contributes with new knowledge, theoretical grounding and the application of the principles of food anthropology to the development of social gerontology and sociology of everyday life.

Czech society is ageing and this process is gendered. Yet, we know very little about the ageing of Czech men. Men are often not named as a gendered category. The study aims to challenge this approach by addressing the topic critically, providing an intersectional analysis situated in a context of a post-socialist country. The design is based on mixed methods sequential research approach, combining qualitative fieldwork with supplementary quantitative secondary analyses. It addresses processes of ageing as a reflected gendered practice by a chosen analytical logic of intersecting power and care relationships. Answers to the research question “how do Czech men do gender, age and ageing in selected social contexts?” will provide an understanding of the dynamics of relations in later lives. Powerful as well as marginalising relations of men as they age will be scrutinised together with caring and being cared for. The study fills gaps beyond fieldwork from a specific context. It will conceptually enrich current international knowledge by adopting a critical perspective.