According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Kentucky adult obesity rates rank among the 10 highest in the US; and Kentucky youth rank among the 10 highest for obesity in the US. Thirty percent of Kentucky adults report not participating in any physical activity. The CDC also reports Kentucky adults rank in the 10 highest for poor consumption of fruits and vegetables in the US. In addition to these health indicators, according to the US Census, approximately 19% of Kentucky’s total population is living in poverty; and approximately 27% percent of children and youth under the age of 18 live in poverty.  

Recent research has indicted that teaching cooking skills to children encourages healthier food choices, which can lower obesity rates.  In an effort to address this problem, this summer the 

Hancock County Family & Consumer Science Agent taught a Summer Cooking Camp using the Superstar Chef Curriculum. Superstar Chef is a three-Day cooking Camp, for Students 9-12 years of age.

Superstar Chef is designed to teach kitchen safety, food safety, nutrition concepts, and physical activity.  In addition, the students practice food preparation skills with supervision.  

Overall, pretest and posttest comparisons of total participant scores show that the program enhanced understanding of the concepts taught by the program.  In addition, 75% of the participating students agreed or strongly agreed that they had learned how to identify healthy foods, 100% planned to drink more water, and 88% planned to be more physically active. Also, participants' cooking self-efficacy increased form pretest to posttest.  Several of the parents commented on how much the kids liked coming to the camp and reported that their children had prepared some food at home for their families.  One parent sent me pictures on Facebook messenger showing their child cooking at home.