Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 14 March 2022 / Revision accepted: 15 July 2022
Strengthening food literacy and promoting social participation through intergenerational cooking activities
Introduction and research question
Food literacy is defined as the ability to translate theoretical knowledge and practical skills into appropriate action in everyday nutrition. It is about knowledge, skills and behaviors to be able to plan, organize, select and prepare food [1]. In addition, it is about connections in everyday eating and drinking, where enjoyment is considered in addition to health-promoting food choices [2]. Current data show that younger people have lower nutritional literacy than older people [3]. Accordingly, older generations could pass on their knowledge to younger generations. In particular, as family members are now less likely to live together in the same house or place [4] and many older people live alone [5], the exchange of knowledge between the generations is a possible starting point for measures to strengthen food literacy.
With the aim of strengthening food literacy and, in particular, knowledge about food and its preparation, and promoting social participation, the IN FORM project “Die Küchenpartie mit peb” (“The Kitchen Party with peb”) brought children and adolescents with older people together in the kitchen. In the context of these intergenerational cooking events, cooking and eating together was primarily about positive experiences related to food and drink. During the four-hour action days, food-related knowledge was imparted in a practice-oriented manner by a nutritionist trained in the “Küchenpartie” concept. The main topics include hygiene and occupational safety, the intergenerational exchange of experience and knowledge, general nutritional recommendations and sustainability aspects. …
Abstract
The IN FORM project “Die Küchenpartie mit peb” brought together children and adolescents with older people for intergenerational cooking activities, in order to strengthen the food literacy of both age groups and to promote social participation, especially among the older generation. To evaluate and reflect on the contribution to health promotion, the two-year project was evaluated externally. For the evaluation, a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. The results show that the majority of participants increased their knowledge about food and its safe preparation. 93% of the children and adolescents and 98% of the older people thought it was good to form a cooking team with people of the other generation. Overall, the satisfaction with the cooking activities was very high (school grade 1.2). These results provide evidence that hands-on food education initiatives with an intergenerational approach could make a valuable contribution to health promotion.
Keywords: food literacy, nutrition education, cooking, generations, evaluation
