Exploring the Impact of Cooking Fuel Choices on Household Food Security and Healthy Food Consumption in Indonesia

Cooking fuel choices significantly influence household food security and dietary patterns. Nevertheless, the existing literature has not comprehensively analyzed how these choices affect food security and healthy food consumption, especially in Indonesia. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of cooking fuel choices on household food security status and healthy food consumption. Our study provides robust statistical estimates using a cross-sectional dataset of 331,068 households from National Socioeconomic Indonesia and employing a multivalued treatment effect (MVTE) approach. The findings indicate that households using clean fuels face a significantly lower risk of food insecurity than those using mixed or unclean fuels. However, households relying on mixed or clean fuels tend to consume less healthy food than those using unclean fuels. Further analysis, disaggregated by rural–urban locations and gender, reveals varying impacts of cooking fuel choices on food security and dietary patterns across these groups. These results highlight the importance of expanding access to clean cooking fuels and promoting nutritional education to foster food security and healthier eating habits, as well as addressing energy poverty and dietary disparities through more targeted policies.