Culinary Medicine and Nutrition Education - Why, what and how?

Speakers: Prof Tamara Bucher & Ms Franziska Scheidegger-Balmer 

Author: Rishi Khiroya 

Edited by: Sarah Armes, Sarah Anderson, Prof Sumantra (Shumone) Ray 

This blog summarises key discussions and findings from an International Academy of Nutrition Educators (IANE) webinar. The full webinar recording will be available on the NNEdPro VLE.

Culinary Nutrition in Practice: Moving beyond Healthy Eating Advice 

Nutrition advice is widely available, yet many people still struggle to apply it in everyday life. Between busy schedules, rising food costs, limited cooking confidence, and increasing reliance on convenience foods, knowing what to eat does not always translate into healthier habits. These were a handful of the key themes explored during a recent webinar focused on culinary nutrition and culinary medicine.  

Throughout the webinar, the speakers discussed how practical food skills, cooking confidence, and food literacy may support healthier behaviours and improve long-term health outcomes. Rather than focusing solely on nutritional theory, the session highlighted how nutrition education can be translated into real-world settings through hands-on learning, community programmes, and accessible resources. 

Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge and Everyday Life 

One of the central themes explored during the webinar was the growing disconnect between nutrition knowledge and daily practice. The speakers highlighted the decline in home cooking and increasing reliance on meals prepared outside the home, trends that may contribute to poorer diet quality over time. Alongside this, presenters discussed how healthcare professionals often receive limited nutrition education, despite diet-related disease remaining a major public health concern. 

The webinar explored the growing fields of culinary nutrition and culinary medicine, both of which support food security by equipping people with the skills, knowledge, and access they need to consistently make and consume healthy meals. While culinary nutrition often focuses on community education and food literacy, culinary medicine is more closely linked to healthcare settings and the concept of “food as medicine” to support disease prevention and management. 

Importantly, the speakers emphasised that cooking skills are about far more than simply following recipes. Culinary education programmes may help improve confidence, independence, food literacy, and the ability to make healthier food choices in everyday life. Behaviour change, accessibility, and sustainability were recurring themes throughout the presentation. 

Accessibility, Independence and Community-Based Approaches  

A range of programmes and frameworks were presented during the webinar, each exploring different ways culinary nutrition can be applied in practice.  

One of the featured initiatives was the “No Money No Time” programme, which focused on helping individuals make healthier food choices despite barriers such as limited time and affordability. The platform allows users to assess the nutritional quality of their meals and provides practical suggestions and healthier alternatives where appropriate. The programme aims to address the competing priorities people face around food, so nutrition advice and suggestions must be realistic and practical. 

Another key initiative mentioned was the Cook-Ed model, a framework designed to help culinary programme providers identify and incorporate cooking skills that may support improved dietary and health outcomes. The framework emphasised the importance of evidence-based programme development and highlighted how culinary education interventions can be more systematically designed and evaluated, rather than delivered as isolated sessions. 

The webinar also explored the role of culinary medicine within healthcare education. It highlighted the growing awareness that traditional medical education does not adequately cover nutrition. The speakers discussed how culinary medicine may help bridge this gap, with a successful programme including features such as teaching nutrition knowledge translation into clinical scenarios and providing practical cooking experience. 

There was also an emphasis on developing a Food Literacy Tool for young adults, recognising that this population consumes the highest proportion of ultra-processed foods in Switzerland. The researchers highlighted that many young adults are increasingly living alone and may face barriers such as limited time, space, and resources for cooking. The project aimed to develop and test a tool to assess skills and nutrition knowledge, helping inform future culinary nutrition interventions tailored to this population. 

One of the most impactful examples presented was the EssEntial programme, which focused on supporting young adults with intellectual disabilities through culinary nutrition education. Individuals with intellectual disabilities face greater health inequalities than the general population, whilst independent living may also be associated with increased sedentary behaviour and poorer dietary habits. 

The speakers discussed how culinary nutrition programmes like the EssEntial programme may support not only nutritional knowledge, but also confidence, independence, and social participation. Researchers used focus groups and expert input to identify important skills and develop an accessible intervention relevant to everyday life. The programme included eight modules covering kitchen safety, food safety, cooking skills, and nutrition, using simple everyday recipes.   

Final Reflections 

 

Overall, the webinar highlighted how culinary nutrition and culinary medicine are evolving beyond traditional healthy eating advice. Rather than focusing solely on nutrients and dietary recommendations, many of the approaches discussed aimed to empower individuals with practical skills, confidence, and greater independence in their food choices.  

The webinar also demonstrated the importance of accessibility, behaviour change, and community involvement when designing nutrition interventions. Whether through healthcare education, food literacy programmes, or community-based activities, culinary nutrition has growing potential as a practical public health tool.  

Ultimately, the sessions reinforced that improving nutrition is not simply about providing information but helping people develop the confidence, skills, and support needed to apply that knowledge in everyday life. 

References: 

Asher, R.C. et al. (2020) ‘Cook-EdTM: A model for planning, implementing and evaluating cooking programs to improve diet and health’, Nutrients, 12(7), p. 2011. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/7/2011