Author: Martha Yount
Planning Unit: Family and Consumer Sciences
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the Nutrition Education Program worked to continue providing quality education in new ways. According to data from the organization Feeding America, In Kentucky, 662,660 people are struggling with hunger - and of them 190,600 are children. Those numbers reflect one out of seven Kentucky adults and one out of five Kentucky children. With school meal service interrupted and rising unemployment rates due the pandemic, more Kentucky families relied on food pantries or other means to feed their families. Hunting and fishing are potential ways to supplement protein in Kentucky diets. The newly launched Cook Wild Kentucky project addresses hunger by providing nutritious recipes using wild game that might have been donated to a food pantry or harvested by Kentucky residents themselves. A series of five webinars was provided to University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension agents and Nutrition Education Program assistants to increase their knowledge on preparing Cook Wild Kentucky recipes. The webinars included food preparation demonstrations for fish, venison, rabbit, and turkey along with guest speakers from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and other experts in the field. Cook Wild Kentucky is a partnership between the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Feeding Kentucky, Hunters for the Hungry and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The average attendance for each of the five webinars was 152 Cooperative Extension employees. Following the webinars, the extension agents and assistants used various methods to share Cook Wild Kentucky with their own communities. They provided recipe cards though mailings and “Extension to Go” packets, and also used social media to conduct their own recipe spotlights and food preparation demonstrations. Unsolicited responses from Cooperative Extension employees showed that many clients increased their knowledge and ability to include fish and other game meats in family meals, and also increased the acceptance of food pantry clients receiving donated game meats. Some families reported fishing as a food source for the first time.
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