Sauté, dice, chop, roast and whip! These are all cooking techniques Hancock County 4-H youth learned through the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service’s Super Star Chef camp.  Over the course of the three days, the youth gained hands-on cooking experience and were introduced to new foods and recipes as they prepared healthy dishes like fresh salsa, fruity parfaits, tasty veggie pizza and oven-baked calzones. They learned cooking skills and how to make healthy choices while tasting new recipes and gained confidence in the kitchen. These life skills lessons will help them grow into healthy adults.

Teaching these skills is part of a PLAN to teach our youth to focus on healthy living and healthy food choices. This is not a life choice that will happen simply by talking to kids about healthy choices. The 4-H motto of learn by doing is the most effective way to combat the obesity epidemic.  This is of utmost importance because Kentucky has 14^th highest rate of obese/overweight 10 to 17 year olds in the nation at 33.5% (2016, StateofObesity.org.) Obesity leads to numerous medical conditions over a lifetime including high blood pressure, diabetes, risks of certain cancers, heart conditions, and more.

These Super Star Chefs completed pre and posttest evaluations. Overall, pre-post comparisons of participant responses to the assessment instrument show that the program enhanced participant understanding of the nutrition concepts covered in the program. The average total score on the test increased from 10.35 in the pretest to 14.06 in the posttest (out of a maximum of 15). The pre-posttest also included seven items that measured participants’ cooking self-efficacy. Responses to these seven items were summed to create a cooking self-efficacy score. Pre-post analysis showed that participants’ cooking self-efficacy increased from 24.31 in the pretest to 30.56 in the posttest (out of a maximum of 32).

The posttest also included eight (8) self-assessment of learning gains items. These items asked the participants to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed that they learned the concepts described in each statement. All the respondents (100%) agreed/strongly agreed that they learned about the amount of fruits and vegetables they should have on their plates; learned about how germs can be transferred to food; learned about how to wash their hands to remove germs; learned how to read nutrition labels; learned how to measure ingredients; and learned how to hold a knife for cutting. Also, all the participants (100%) plan to eat more fruits and vegetables after participating in the program.