Childhood obesity affects nearly 18% of youth in the country today, and that percentage rises 1% in lower income households.  Estill County has a poverty rate of 22.7%, which is why our 4-H program felt it was very essential to work with our youth and teach them the importance of healthy living.  Our 2020/2021 Virtual Cooking Club had fifteen members, who regularly attended our zoom meetings and would pick up a kit that included all the ingredients.  The club met once a month from October to April.   In every meeting we taught various cooking skills, where the different ingredients came from, and prepared a meal together.   We had the opportunity to show these youth that cooking and healthy living can be creative and fun!  By the end of our program, youth were able to demonstrate basic cooking skills.  This included following a recipe, safe equipment use, and measuring ingredients.  They also gained skills in cutting, mixing, and cooking with different pieces of equipment.  Cooking and teaching virtually definitely had its challenges, but our youth really enjoyed our meetings overall.  They were able to classify foods into appropriate food groups and create nutritious meals.  Their favorite foods were pumpkin pie in a bag, healthy vegetable pizzas, and the bread we made from scratch!  One youth said “My sister and I had a blast making our pizzas! (they were delicious)”.  A parent stated “My child said to give 4-H a thumbs up for that bread.  It is delicious!  Glad the yeast came in packs of three. We will definitely be making that again soon!” In the end, we not only helped these youth learn about healthy foods and kitchen safety, but provided an opportunity for the whole family to cook a meal together.

Photo:  Cooking Club member Tenley uses recipe and cooking skills from a previous meeting to bake bread for her family.