Guided by the framework of participatory sense-making (PSM), which has traditionally focused on dynamic interactions in real-time, this project explores how meaning arising from personal interactions that are rich with emotional and cultural importance can be shared with others through everyday activities. In line with our own and others’ work on how emotional learning in past experiences guides attention, memory and action, we are interested in whether and how such emotional associations can be shared between people as a form of PSM. In this study we are using food preparation as a conduit for emotional histories since preparing food is an everyday activity that is meaningful across time and culture. We have asked participants to each prepare three recipes, at separate times, in their own kitchens. For each participant, one recipe is one they provided that is personally and culturally meaningful to them. They also prepare recipes provided by two other participants: One where they are told about why the recipe is meaningful and one where they are not. We use videos of the food preparation sessions along with structured interviews to probe the experience of preparing recipes in the presence and absence of information about their significance. Specifically, we aim to find whether an understanding of others’ meaningful associations with activities extend to how we experience the same, familiar actions. The patterns that emerge from these interviews will generate hypotheses for future quantitative studies. We also hope to apply our understanding of the dynamics that emerge from these forms of interactions to community-based practices surrounding food literacy and sovereignty.