As of July 31, 2023, Kentucky ranked 4^th in the nation in the number of refugee arrivals compared to other states. There are 26 million refugees globally, with as many as 80% facing food insecurity irrespective of location. Food insecurity results in malnutrition beginning at an early age and disproportionately affects certain groups such as women.

  In resettlement countries, food security remains an issue. Migrants find cultural foods expensive, hard to obtain, and although people often have cooking skills, the unfamiliarity of new foods and how to prepare them poses challenges. (Nutrients. 2022 Feb; 14(3): 522.Published online2022) Refugees identified low income and high food prices as barriers to accessing desired food. Also significant is the fact that refugees experience difficulties when shopping, identifying, and using new foods, such as canned item.( https://doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259.76.1.15). This problem is significate in Kentucky with the large number of refugees coming here each year. 

Together with Kentucky Refugee Ministries in Covington Kentucky we are working to solve this problem. 

As of September 2023, the program coordinator and I have started a cooking program for KY refugees.  This program’s goal is to introduce participants to Healthy foods, cooking utensils, basic food label information, and basic cooking skills.

 This program meets twice a month with refugees that are going through the relocation process.   The participants are from all over the world, and all have limited English skills.

Since the program has just begun, we are looking forward to measuring the impact in the future.  However, the first class was well attended, and the participants said they liked the class and learned something new.