“I can’t cook, so I opt for fast food”, a statement you may hear way too often.  It is sad to say that cooking is not a skill that everyone gets the opportunity to learn.   With that in mind, the University of Kentucky’s Nutrition Education Program (NEP) strives to make a difference.   With the vision of improving health and wellness, diet quality, and household food security they have created the Healthy Choices for Every Body program.  To initiate this program, NEP and the Campbell County Public Library partnered to make this happen.

“You’re never too old to learn something new”, a women stated in this program.  She could not have been more right.  This program was a mix of adults in different life stages.  The older adults taught the younger adults and vice versa.   One young lady stated, “rub lime on your fingers to get rid of the onion smell”, after learning how to properly cut an onion.  

The most popular skill taught was knife skills and more specifically, “how to cut an onion with no tears”.  Participants learned how to hold and use the knives when cutting.   They learned how to properly dice jalapenos, chop broccoli, slice bell peppers, mince garlic, and so much more.

Other than the hands-on skills, participants learned ways that they could incorporate a healthier lifestyle in their busy lives.   Many realized that healthy meals do not have to be so hard and costly to make.  Their confidence in healthy cooking improved after learning healthy alternatives and add ins such as adding spinach to chili to increase nutrient consumption and changing from white all-purpose flour to whole wheat all-purpose flour to increase fiber.

In just 7 lessons participants expressed many improvements in their cooking and nutrition skills.  NEP and the Campbell County Public Library are happy to be a part of the improvement of these participants’ cooking and Nutrition skills.