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PM_2.5 samples were collected from five different cooking activities, namely, meat roasting, cafeteria frying, fish roasting, snack-street boiling, and cafeteria boiling in Ya’an, China. Their chemical compositions were investigated. The PM_2.5 concentrations in the cooking samples were 2.5–9.6 times higher than those in the corresponding backgrounds. Meat roasting produced the highest amount of PM_2.5. In general, charbroilings emitted more PM_2.5 than the other cooking activities because of the characteristics of cooking method and fuel type. High organic carbon (OC) contents (> 53% of PM_2.5) and OC/EC ratios (> 54) in meat roasting and cafeteria frying samples suggest that oils and high-fat raw materials significantly affect the PM_2.5 and OC emissions. However, the cooking activity was proved to be a minor source for elemental carbon (EC) with its low contents in all of the samples. High ion compositions in PM …