According to the American Heart Association, teaching youth how to prepare their own food will give them a skill they can use for a lifetime, they will be more likely to eat healthier as adults, and build self-confidence. (Cooking With Your Children; Web MD; May 30, 2008.) A California Department of Education survey indicated that 87 percent of fourth to eighth graders said that they cook and make some of their meals or snacks. However, youth who lack healthy cooking knowledge may rely on packaged foods or prepared foods containing questionable nutrition value.  

Teaching youth food preparation skills promote important life skills development. Research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics noted that children who engaged in handling foods, have less fear of food and greater acceptance of eating a variety of foods. Children ate more fruits and vegetables after participating in culinary classes according to some research studies.  

Trigg county 4-H and FCS partnered to offered our youth a unique opportunity to learning new cooking skills in a not so typical environment.  Our outdoor cooking class was the first in person cooking class we offered since the beginning of the pandemic.  We determined outdoors would be a safer environment to teach.  The outdoor cooking was offered as a 6 week class where participants were taught how to properly wash had, worked on knife cutting skills, and a different outdoor cooking method each week.  100% of the participants said they learned a new skill they would take home to use with their families.  Each one also reported they would like to expand on the skills they learned in a follow up class in the future.