The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program partnered with Madison County Cooperative Extension Service to bring the Super Star Chef program to youth in Madison County. The program included a three-day program where 17 youth ages 9-12 learned the basics of nutrition and cooking while having fun. Studies have shown that children who help cook at home are more likely to enjoy fruits and vegetables than those who do not cook. This program exposed youth to a variety of cooking techniques as well as new ingredients for the youth to try as they prepared healthy treats such as fresh salsa, confetti quesadillas, fruit parfaits and more.

The program also included a pre and post evaluation to see what the youth learned through participation in the program. Overall, pre-post comparisons of participant responses to the assessment instrument showed that the program enhanced participant understanding of the nutrition concepts covered in the program. The pre-post-test also included seven items that measured participants’ cooking self-efficacy. Responses to these seven items were summed to create a cooking self-efficacy score which concluded that participants’ total cooking self-efficacy score increased from 29.13 in the pretest to 32.88 in the post-test (out of a maximum of 36). After participating in the Super Star Chef program, all of the respondents (100%) reported that they can identify healthy foods, and that they plan to drink more water every day, and try new foods.