Lean to Health: Lowfat Chinese Cuisine Campaign

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To define the four levels of intervention of the Lowfat Chinese Cuisine Campaign in San Francisco The goal of the Lean to Health: Lowfat Chinese Cuisine Campaign is to help people identify healthy food choices and learn new and creative ways to cook Chinese food. The campaign includes 4 levels of interventions: 1)enhancing individual knowledge and skills via the development of a tri-lingual video in Cantonese, Mandarin and English (includes celebrity chef Martin Yan demonstrating lowfat dishes and a nutritionist hosting a supermarket tour); 2) promoting community education via different channels – video stores, supermarkets, Chinese schools, family associations, libraries, community centers and media; 3) educating provider via inservice and newsletters; 4) creating the Partners for Healthy Eating Coalition to promote lowfat eating in the community including physicians, dietitians, chef training program staff, cooking show producers, teachers and preschool workers. Each Partner for Healthy Eating agency functions as a campaign partner to do any one of the following activities: function as a site for the public to borrow the videotape; promote lowfat eating within their own staff and/or clients; conduct classes in the community; and develop lowfat eating and catering guidelines for office functions. The campaign was very popular in the Chinese community. A total of 38 Partners for Healthy Eating has joined the campaign. The development of the messages in Chinese and English for the video, poster and brochure was done via focus groups and expert panels. The evaluation survey indicated 89% of the clients who viewed the video have made some changes in their food choices. For the brochure survey, 88% agreed to use a nonstick pan and 92% agreed to measure the oil in cooking.