Food Literacy Partners Program: Cooking Class Unit

Abstract

The Food Literacy Partners Program is a 20 hour Learn and Serve program that provides 20 hours of food and nutrition education to volunteers in exchange for 20 hours of community nutrition education service. The program was launched in 1999 with a curriculum that includes 14 modules, 11 of which can be completed either in group training sessions led by a dietitian or independently on ECU’s BlackBoard course platform. Two of the modules, an interactive healthy food preparation session and a simulated health fair require in-person participation and are required for graduation. Following completion of the program, participants reported eating more vegetables (51%), more fruit (49%), consumed less soda (31%), and engaged in more physical activity (36%). The program is funded with Food Stamp Education funds from USDA, community benefit funds from Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation and in-kind from East Carolina University. For more details about the Food Literacy Program, see Rawl R, Kolasa KM, Lee J, Whetstone L. A Learn and Serve Nutrition Program: The Food Literacy Partners Program. J Nutrition Education and Behavior. 2008;40:49-51.

This submission includes the Cooking Class Unit extracted from the Food Literacy Program curriculum. It contains recipes, their nutrition information, and the instructions to prepare healthy meals based on the DASH dietary pattern. It also provides a curriculum to teach healthy eating principles that align with the DASH diet, as well as supporting participant education handouts like a serving size guide, healthier substitutions, and a table comparing the nutrition content in common cooking ingredients.