-To improve nutritional well-being and food security in an integrated school-community context through the development of cooking, nutrition-related and other life skills.
-To build relationships between parents, children, and staff within the school- community.
-To establish a safe, culturally sensitive, and supportive atmosphere within the school.
Benefits
-Offers a safe place for families to learn and play, in a setting where parents and children can participate together, enhancing the family unit.
-Enables skill development in budgeting, meal planning and food preparation while increasing awareness of healthy foods and good nutrition.
-Provides opportunity for parents to network, socialize and contribute to others’ well-being in culturally sensitive environment.
-Enhances parent access to their child’s school, with increased access to services such as counseling, parenting classes and pre-employment skill development
Philosophy
The philosophy underlying the program is that of active learning, parent participation and enjoyment. Active learning enables everyone to explore, discover, try and experiment with foods and recipes through cooking and tasting. Parent participation enhances family learning and the integration of new skills into daily habits. Enjoyment and pleasure in making and eating new foods together also assists learning and adoption of new and healthier eating habits.
Origins – Research Base
Cooking Fun for Families is based on a three-year health promotion research project (1994-97) funded by the British Columbia Health Research Foundation. “School and Community Action on Nutrition (SCAN)” was a collaborative effort of the Institute of Health Promotion Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Healthand Vancouver School Board. This project was developed out of questions raised in 1992 when the Vancouver school lunch program expanded. Was the school lunch program addressing all of the school-communities’ nutrition needs and issues? Were there other food and nutrition programs that would further support families? The resulting model became the Cooking Fun for Families program. A community leader’s handbook was developed to share the research experiences. This research and the follow up outcome evaluation research (2001-2003) were conducted with the leadership of Dawne Milligan, MSc.
