Community Interventions to Improve Cooking Skills and Their Effects on Confidence and Eating Behaviour

Ada L. Garcia, Rebecca Reardon, Matthew McDonald, Elisa J. Vargas-Garcia

Community-based interventions aiming to improve cooking skills are a popular strategy to promote healthy eating. We reviewed current evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions on different confidence aspects and fruit and vegetable intake. Evaluation of cooking programmes consistently report increased confidence in cooking skills in adults across different age groups and settings. The effectiveness of these programmes on modifying eating behaviour is less consistent, but small increases in self-reported consumption of fruit and vegetables are also described. Lack of large samples, randomization and control groups and long-term evaluation are methodological limitations of the evidence reviewed. Cooking skill interventions can have a positive effect on food literacy, particularly in improving confidence on cooking and fruit and vegetable consumption, with vulnerable, low-socieconomic groups gaining more benefits. Consistency across study designs, delivery and evaluation of outcomes both at short and long terms are warranted to draw clearer conclusions on how cooking programmes are contributing to improve diet and health.