P20 Culinary Nutrition Class for College Students: Cooking with Herbs and Spices

Abstract

Background Campus-based programming, which incorporates both hands-on cooking and nutrition education, has emerged as a means to improve cooking and eating behaviors and self-efficacy related to cooking skills and healthy eating practices. Objective Evaluate the impact of a 15-week Culinary Nutrition class on student behaviors and self-efficacy in cooking and eating healthy foods. Study Design, Settings, and Participants A pre- and post-intervention model was used. A 15-week Culinary Nutrition class was developed using a conceptual framework of healthy cooking with the following constructs: frequency, techniques/methods, minimal usage, additions/replacements and flavoring. The program included experiential skill acquisition through hands-on cooking classes, as well as home practices. Each student received a chef knife and weekly herb/spice sample to help facilitate home practice. The culinary nutrition component was presented through online presentations, delivered prior to each lesson. Each cooking practice reinforced nutrition and cooking concepts and introduced at least one herb/spice and cooking skill. Students (18) registered for the Culinary Nutrition class participated in the study. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Data from pre- and post-intervention surveys was used to assess changes in frequency of home cooking, frequency of cooking with fruits/vegetables, and self-efficacy for cooking healthy food, recipe modification, use of herbs and spices and knife skills. Changes in frequency of cooking and using fruits/vegetables were analyzed by paired sample t-tests. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to analyze changes in self-efficacy. Results Analyses of pre- and post-intervention surveys indicated that participants experienced significant increases in self-efficacy for cooking healthy food (P = .001), recipe modification (P = .003), use of herbs and spices (P = .003) and knife skills (P = .001), and increases in frequency of home cooking (P = .045) and use of fruits and vegetables in cooking (P = .029). Conclusion Culinary nutrition classes with an online nutrition component can be an effective intervention to increase home cooking and self-efficacy for healthy cooking and eating for college age students. Funding None.