Culturally Sensitive Cooking Classes to...Health Review_ A Peer-Reviewed Journal

ooking programs are one avenue to promote healthy eating. However, many cooking programs are a one size-fits-all approach and do not consider costs, time, accessibility, or cultural barriers to the recipes being taught. Healthy Bites is a cooking program developed by medical students, physician assistant students, and chefs to remedy this by redesigning recipes to be less than $3 per meal, fewer than 30 minutes to cook, inclusive of accessible ingredients, and tailored for Latin American dishes. In this descriptive work, we implemented the Healthy Bites (HB) program by recruiting Latino participants from free clinics and community centers in Sacramento County to measure their changes in confidence in various aspects of food preparation. We also assessed the utility of a collaborative, community-based student initiative to increase confidence and skills for medical and physician assistant students. Although we are limited by the number of participants, we report an increase in confidence for cooking cost effective foods, accessing healthy ingredients, cooking dishes that participants culturally identify with, and cooking in a timely manner. Our findings suggest that culturally tailored cooking courses can positively influence cooking behavior and training for healthcare professionals