Teaching university students to cook, to improve their diet: a pilot study at Nottingham Trent University

Abstract

Objective: To determine if it is feasible to teach students to cook cheap nutritious food that they would want to reproduce in their own student residences. Design and methodology: A cohort of interested students was trained using the established 'Let's Get Cooking' model www.letsgetcooking.org.uk 2012) which has been used in schools across England to establish cooking clubs within communities. These students developed a programme of four weeks of twohour cookery lessons aimed at the student lifestyle. A pilot was run in the summer term of 2011 with lessons given to willing participants for free. The participants, both those who carried out the teaching and those who were taught were all asked to evaluate the pilot. In the following autumn a further course was run using some of the same 'teachers' but this time the students paid £12 (GBP) for the course of lessons. Results: The feedback from those taught to cook in the sessions was very favourable with 91% of respondents rating the sessions as excellent or good on six aspects of the course. All the participants felt their skills had improved and they felt more confident about cooking. On the second part of the pilot where the students had paid, 89% rated the sessions as excellent or good on the same criteria and 100% had enjoyed the sessions; 84% thought their skills had improved and 75% felt more confident about cooking after the course. Fifty per cent indicated that they would continue to cook healthy food after the sessions had ended. Conclusions and implications: Evidence suggests that many students have not learned to cook and do not eat healthily; however, they are prepared to pay and attend cookery classes aimed at their needs. What is not known is, if by empowering students to cook cheap healthy food, whether or not they will continue to do this after the classes have ended?

The Outcomes of the Community Cooking Workshops for International Students at Simon Fraser University

“…Our findings support previous literature on cooking workshops for postsecondary students (Ball & Brown, 2012;Clifford, Anderson, Auld & Champ, 2009;Lawe, 2013;Levy & Auld, 2004). Similar to these research findings, after participating in the CCWs, students noted increased nutrition, food preparation skills and healthy eating knowledge, intention to change their nutrition behaviours and increased cooking skill self-efficacy.…”

“…A review of recent literature on post-secondary nutrition interventions provides four nutrition interventions targeted at improving the nutritional practices of post-secondary students: cooking shows, cooking classes, cooking demonstrations, and dinner groups (Ball & Brown, 2012;Clifford, Anderson, Auld & Champ, 2009;Lawe, 2013;Levy & Auld, 2004). Clifford, Anderson, Auld and Champ (2009), assessed the outcomes of a randomized control trial Social Cognitive Theory based cooking show for post-secondary students.…”

“…A final study evaluated student facilitated cooking classes for postsecondary students in the United Kingdom (Lawe, 2013). This program was offered for four weeks as a pilot project (Lawe, 2013).…”

“…A final study evaluated student facilitated cooking classes for postsecondary students in the United Kingdom (Lawe, 2013). This program was offered for four weeks as a pilot project (Lawe, 2013). All participants reported that their cooking skills improved and felt more confident in cooking; however only 50% indicated that they would continued to cook healthy food after the session (Lawe, 2013).…”

“…This program was offered for four weeks as a pilot project (Lawe, 2013). All participants reported that their cooking skills improved and felt more confident in cooking; however only 50% indicated that they would continued to cook healthy food after the session (Lawe, 2013). No evaluation of short-or longterm nutritional changes was assessed (Lawe, 2013).…”