Cooking class helps people make healthy food choices

Jan. 7, 2017

Dieticians Michelle Smith and Jane Rapin said food knowledge and cooking skills matter for proper health, particularly among those who can least afford to purchase whatever groceries their families may need or even want.

“It’s important. Everybody needs to eat,” Smith said.

The pair of nutrition educators for Michigan State University Extension in Traverse City is seeking interested participants for a public education program titled Cooking Matters. It’s a free six-week course planned on the national level by nonprofit Share our Strength, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger across America. In Michigan, MSU Extension offices partner with Detroit-based Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

Participants come away from each class with new recipes and fresh nutrition information, such as how and why to choose healthy foods and how to plan meals with a proper balance of food groups. Additionally, participants learn about portion sizes; how to decide between fresh, frozen or canned vegetables; food safety measures; reading nutrition labels; and how to substitute healthier options for various recipe ingredients. The idea is to teach these concepts and how to incorporate them into daily life choices, said both Smith and Rapin, the latter also a certified diabetes educator.

Perhaps the largest hurdle, they agreed, is to show participants how healthy groceries can be acquired on a limited budget. That means actual raw ingredients, not boxes of processed food filled with preservatives, salts and chemicals.

“A myth is that eating well costs a lot. Cooking Matters shows that you can make a healthy meal for your family on a budget; it teaches how to eat healthy on a budget,” Rapin said. “I like that there is a nutrition component. It teaches participants why you might make certain choices about food.”

It’s not just a drab lecture about food groups and counting calories, either. Participants get the chance to cook, beginning with basic lessons such as how to safely carry kitchen knives and disinfect food preparation spaces.

“We have a beautiful new kitchen to use for the program,” Smith said.

The Community Kitchen at BrickWays, a nonprofit residential facility on Barlow Street for adults with developmental disabilities, was funded through a grant from Rotary Charities of Traverse City. The kitchen comes with multiple cooking stations, an electric stovetop and oven, a stocked pantry, and plenty of pots, pans and cooking utensils.

The first Cooking Matters classes in Traverse City involved residents at BrickWays and their family members, but now the idea is to offer the program to the general public. “Bringing the community in and having interaction with residents at BrickWays would be great,” Smith said.

Sherry Opper, housing manager and assistant director at the BrickWays facility, said the program is ideal for those on fixed incomes.

“Teaching people how to eat healthy and cook for their families on a budget — how to make their dollars stretch — that’s the whole point,” Opper said.

Smith further explained that’s why those living on limited incomes are especially encouraged to apply, both so the local effort can meet federal Supplemental Nutritional Food Assistance Program-funding guidelines and because those participants likely will benefit the most from the program. Requirements call for at least half the roll call to involve participants who qualify for such benefits, but income levels are not a factor for the other half of each class roster.

As it turns out, many adults today don’t actually know how to prepare food from scratch, Smith said.

“It’s the basic skills of knowing how to cook. It’s taking the time to learn how to cook,” she said. “They learn why it is important to eat fruits, vegetables and leaner proteins.”

Participants take home free groceries in order to again make each session’s example meal at home for their family members after they’ve taste-tested the food in class. They even take a field trip to a grocery store in order to learn in person how to make the best choices while shopping, both nutritionally and financially.

Rapin said the program’s national statistics show families consume more home-cooked meals that are healthier for them after a member completes the Cooking Matters program. Additionally, the research shows families involved with the program more often choose foods that contain whole grains, include leaner proteins and are lower in both sodium and fat.

MSU Extension in the local five-county region also offers Cooking Matters for Teens through public schools and recently became certified to offer Cooking Matters for Families. Those interested in the program can contact Smith at 231-922-4823 or smithmmk@anr.msu.edu by email. The MSU Extension office is at 520 W. Front St. in downtown Traverse City.

Those who live outside Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties can inquire with their own MSU Extension offices about Cooking Matters and other available nutritional programs. Cooking Matters sessions have been offered in Boyne City, Manistee and Petoskey.

Sheri McWhirter is a freelance writer.