According to the American Heart Association, teaching youth how to prepare their own food will give them a skill they can use for a lifetime, they will be more likely to eat healthier as adults and build self-confidence through cooking. In order to address the growing concern about children not knowing how to prepare food safely led to the Henderson County 4-H program offering a three day cooking camp involving the dairy alliance, fuel up to play 60, UK Snap-Education resources, and a UK Poultry Specialist. This program teaches students how to make healthy recipes that they can take home and share with their families safely.  During the camp youth learned how to handle and cut a whole raw chicken, homemade ranch, different healthy smoothies recipes (one even including spinach!), homemade pizza, frozen fruit yogurt popsicles, handled ground beef, and presented different recipes to the whole group. 

Twenty youth aged 9-12 participated in the day camp along with five teen leaders who assisted with the day camp. No previous cooking experience was required for the free program and participants learned to master a variety of cooking techniques, how to use a knife correctly, and the importance of washing your food and hands before starting any recipe. With each of the recipes used in the class, children practiced hand washing and how to hold a knife correctly. They also, practiced proper cutting procedures by holding the knife firmly and always cutting away from the body. They also discovered foods that are good fuel for their bodies and learned to read food labels and identify if foods were safe to eat. Youth also learned the different parts of a chicken and how to cut up a whole chicken. Youth also learned from the 4-H Manners curriculum and an emphasis on physical activity was also taught. As a result of the cooking camp, based on the data from the twenty respondents to the pre- and post-tests the following knowledge was gained:

§90% identified that they were able to use MyPlate to eat a balanced diet.

§100% of identified they could avoid spreading germs while cooking.

§Over 90% identified they were confident in their ability to safely use a knife and cutting board to cut up food

§95% learned how to set the table for a family meal and 

§95% learned how to measure ingredients accurately 

§100% said they could follow a recipe 

§90% said they could break an egg and hard cook an egg 

Youth also identified they learned phone and napkin etiquette while eating. All youth took home a recipe book and before the camp was over several campers had already made smoothies for their parents as well as dinner for their family.