Eating fruits and vegetables is a critical behavior for health promotion and disease prevention. Despite the importance of eating produce, it is also one of the most difficult eating behaviors to change over time. It has been reported that cooking more meals at home correlates with increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Unfortunately, the number of Kentuckians living in poverty is consistently above the national average as this presents significant barriers to procuring, preparing, and eating nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables at home. It is also established in the literature that limited resources families know what types of foods, like fruits and vegetables, to include in balanced, nutritious meals and snacks. However, families are interested in learning the knowledge and skills on how to incorporate these nutritious foods into home-prepared meals.

To address identified barriers for preparing meals at home, the social marketing and direct education program, Cook Together, Eat Together, was offered statewide in 17 counties to promote more nutrition, home-cooked family meals. Cook Together, Eat Together is a set of seven to eight facilitated community sessions that teach and inspire families to prepare and share low-cost, nutritious meals together. For this program, a caregiver (e.g., parent, grandparent) and child/adolescent (ages 4-18) are encouraged to attend the sessions together.

As a result of the program over the past year, 798 participants reported eating more nutritious foods such as whole fruits and/or brightly colored vegetables, while 739 participants reported preparing more nutritious home-cooked meals. In addition, 661 individuals reported adopting one or more practices to reduce food shopping costs associated with home-cooked meals such as comparing prices, planning meals, and making shopping lists.

Over the long-term, these cooking and eating behavior changes may lead to sustainable changes in cooking and eating norms in communities and across generations. As demonstrated by Cook Together, Eat Together, social marketing paired with direct education can be a powerful tool to promote positive behavior changes related to nutritious eating.