| Sumario: | Purpose Adoption and use of digital technologies can significantly support the independent and healthy life among older adults, if older adults perceive technology as meaningful and suitable to everyday life (Neves & Vetere, 2019). This study explores to what extent digital technology can shape older adults' physical cooking practices at home, and how older adults' needs and capabilities could be taken into consideration in the design of digital kitchen technology (Merkel & Kucharski, 2018; Kuijer, Jong & van Eijk, 2013; Kuoppamaki, 2019). Method The study presents empirical findings from ethnographic video observation collected in Stockholm, Sweden in 2019. Material consists of six participatory videography each documenting cooking practices among retireed engineers aged over 70. The study explores older adults' micro-behaviours, physical movements and interactions while cooking and underlines the role of digitalisation in these practices (Mondada, 2012; Whiting, Symon, Roby & Chamakiotis, 2018). Results and Discussion The study shows that cooking followed a similar but not linear series of physical activities, including preparation, food making, management of cooking process and cleaning. Older adults reported problems with physical micro-practices, such opening the packages, lifting tools, reaching for items from kitchen cabinets and moving in the kitchen space. Cooking is also a socio-emotional practice through which older adults express enjoyment, relaxation, creativity and communication with family members. Physical objects in the kitchen aroused a sense of nostalgia and emotional attachment. Even if older adults use non-digital technologies in the kitchen effectively, they have not yet adopted digital technologies to cooking practices to a wider extent. Physical and technical practices in cooking may benefit from integration of advanced intelligent systems to everyday life. Socio-emotional element in cooking requires kitchen technology to be communicative, interactive and enable creativity. Digitalisation could shape older adults' cooking by providing informational and inspirational support, training and couching in the management of cooking process. The study discusses these findings in relation to participatory design methods (Merkel & Kucharski, 2018; Kuijer, Jong & van Eijk, 2013) and proposes suggestions to the digital design of domestic technologies for older adults.
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