The "School Pantry: Mystery Food Box Cook-Off " is a program designed to increase awareness of food insecurity among youth and teach strategies to prepare healthy foods on a budget. A pre-and-post survey showed a statistically significant difference in participants' overall knowledge, skills, and confidence level after the program…

Face-to-face cooking programs can positively impact food choices, fruit and vegetable intake, and cooking self-efficacy; however, little is known about virtual cooking programs. We studied the perceived acceptability of the virtual SWITCH Cooking School (SCS). Four monthly cooking classes were offered for each participating school. Classes…

Reading nutrition facts labels is a competency for which training is given in several nutrition education programs, especially in obesity outreach workshops. The Top Trumps-style card game is commonly used in obesity prevention educational programs to engage participants in reading nutrition facts labels; however, the success of TV cooking shows…

Current curriculum guidelines emphasise the importance of both nutrition education and the development of practical cooking skills in the school subject Food and Health (FH). This study aimed to explore teachers' and students' perspectives and experiences of current classroom practices in FH. Focus group discussions (FGDs) with teachers and…

The place of practical cookery within school subjects in England has, in recent years, been debated as part of concerns about the nation's health and obesity. Cookery has been a school subject for over a century, but has only ever held a minority place in the curriculum. In 2017 we surveyed teachers of practical cookery in schools, in a repeat of…

Background: Activities to foster food literacy in young people are increasingly common in schools, driven both by the public health sector and by curriculum mandates from education officials in government. In Canada, both Kindergarten-Grade 12 (K-12) classroom teachers and educators from community organisations deliver food literacy education…

Objective: As childhood obesity continues to threaten the overall health of young people, K-12 teachers are uniquely poised to advocate for, and support food and nutrition, school lunch and student health. Yet, classroom teachers are largely uninvolved in school lunch. School lunch is typically viewed as separate from the rest of the school day…

Background: National data confirm that youth are not eating recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (F/V), legumes, and whole grains (WGs). Establishing plant-based eating patterns early in life may positively impact long-term health through tracking of adolescent eating patterns into adulthood and through potential associations between…

Western Australian adolescents are not adhering to the Australian Dietary Guidelines yet little research has considered what adolescents know about the Healthy Living Pyramid (HLP), the recommended daily serves. Four studies assessed nutrition-related knowledge or influences on food preference. Studies one and two investigated adolescent's…

Purpose: Food education in secondary schools can provide adolescents with essential food knowledge and skills required for healthy, independent living. The purpose of this paper is to identify food-related knowledge and skills that Australian consumers believe are required for all consumers, and to identify their demographic and psychographic…

The view of the authors is that the teaching of food in the school curriculum has varied throughout its history in order to meet political aims rather than educational ones. In this article they highlight the social and political changes that have influenced the teaching of food from its inception in the mid-1840s through to the present day. They…

In this article, we share an ethnographic case study of how we worked with a small group of marginalized grades 6, 7, and 8 students to both explore and create augmented reality (AR) to produce a class cookbook. We discuss how using AR helped students develop digital literacies skills and 21st century competencies, while at the same time,…

This article describes a novel approach for introducing 4-H to non-traditional/diverse audiences using 4-H Food Challenge. Set in a low SES and minority-serving rural school, Food Challenge was presented during the school day to all 7th grade students, with almost half voluntarily participating in an after-school club component. Program design…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how students' participation in an integrated school food program was related to the development of components of food and health-related action competence (F & HRAC). These components were understood to be the knowledge, insight, motivation, ownership and social skills that made students able to…

Experiential cooking classes for low-income adults can help improve healthy nutrition behaviors. However, nutrition educators and Extension professionals can face challenges in successful implementation of these programs such as difficulties recruiting and retaining participants. Drawing upon lessons learned from a cooking intervention with…