Cooking Workshops as a Strategy to Improve the Acceptability of Vegetables for Elementary School Children

Abstract

The research aim was to develop cooking workshops using five health foods least accepted by elementary school children and assess their sensory acceptability and physicochemical composition. Three hundred and thirty two elementary school children aged between 7 and 10 years participated in the research. Food acceptability was evaluated in order to verify the nutritious foods less accepted by children, for use in preparations prepared in cooking workshops. Five products were prepared in cooking workshops: eggplant cookie, chard muffin, cress bread, radish pancake and chayote esfiha. All preparations showed high Acceptability Indexes (> 85%). Higher lipid, calorie and fiber contents and lower ash and moisture contents were found in eggplant cookie. Lower contents of carbohydrate and calories were found in radish pancake, while higher contents of protein and ash were observed in chayote esfiha and chard muffin, respectively. The products with the highest carbohydrate contents were eggplant cookie and cress bread, while chard muffin had the lowest fiber content. It is concluded that cooking workshop is an effective educational strategy to improve the acceptability of vegetables with low acceptability for elementary school children.