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Why Cooking Matters in the Lehigh Valley

Published: February 16, 2016 Author: Kristina Zwolenik

Cooking Matters is a lively and interactive nutrition education program that provides families with the necessary components to shop smarter while enabling participants to use their nutritional knowledge to make nutritious, delicious, and affordable meals. The program is USDA recognized for excellence in nutrition. Cooking Matters is located at more than 1,200 locations across the nation, United Way’s Community partner, Second Harvest Food Bank (a partner of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley), is the only organization to offer Cooking Matters classes in Pennsylvania. Second Harvest Food Bank, located out of Northampton County, provides Cooking Matters classes in six different counties at 36 locations around the Lehigh Valley. The organization offers classes for kids, teens, adults and families. Cooking Matters is placed at community locations where 50% or more of the potential participants are low income.

Cooking Matters has two main goals, “to improve the nutrition knowledge, eating habits, cooking skills, food safety practices, food resource management, and financial planning skills of people at risk for hunger so that they can better provide for themselves and for their families,” and “to provide chefs, nutritionists, and others who are committed to ending childhood hunger with a tool for getting involved in their communities and sharing their skills.” The Lehigh Valley chapter makes no exception to these goals. The Cooking Matters program also helps United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley reach many of our Food Access Goals. We know that children perform better at school when they have a nutritious meal to eat. Cooking Matters provides a delicious meal to at-risk participants and provides the community with tools to make their own low-cost meals at home.

The Cooking Matters team in the Lehigh Valley is organized by Kristina Parise, a Nutrition Educator at the Second Harvest Food Bank. Kristina exudes a passion for instructing the Lehigh Valley on best cooking and nutritional practices. Kristina has a team of around 50 volunteers with exceptional nutritional and educational knowledge. The team works together to deliver a truly remarkable experience for every participant involved. It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to not have FUN in one of the classes. If you are not convinced, read on.

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To get a better feel for Cooking Matters, I had the opportunity to take part in an interactive kid’s class at United Way Community School William Penn Elementary in Bethlehem. The class was filled with approximately 15 students, all who were either selected by teachers or enrolled because they had an interest in cooking. Many of the schools have a waiting list of participants interested in the program! During that particular class, we were making breakfast for dinner--a total crowd pleaser! The class started off with a fun nutritional science experiment that demonstrated the importance of eating whole grains compared to enriched foods. After some

excellent instruction from the team, the class got cooking! The children made Orange Pancakes, Apple Wraps, and Smoothies (Check out more recipes). In order to pull off this delicious meal, each participant was delegated a different task. Some were in charge of cutting apples and bananas, others were in charge of mixing batter and making pancakes, a few were on smoothie duty, and the remaining filled in where necessary. It was teamwork at its absolute best. Upon completion, the children pulled off a great meal, together. They also learned a thing or two about safe cooking practices and how to create a delicious and healthy meal. But best of all, they got to enjoy a self-prepared meal with their friends--they all LOVED it!

After the Cooking Matters kids' class, you could see the excitement in each of the children’s eyes. You could tell that each student was confident in what they made and learned and was excited to come back to the class next week. In my own observations, I found the class to be extremely beneficial to any age group (I mean I learned a lot and I was a 23-year-old in a kids' class!) If you have any hesitations about cooking or nutrition, this class is for you. Or if you consider yourself a cooking expert, this class may be a way for you to learn some healthy alternatives and to meet some new people (you might even consider signing up to be a volunteer). At the end of the class it was apparent that cooking truly does matter! Teaching someone to cook healthy is giving them the necessary tools to a healthy lifestyle. Cooking has the capability of bringing a group of people together to make a lasting difference!

If you are interested in finding out about more information on the program, becoming a volunteer, becoming a host site, or joining a class, contact Kristina Parise for additional information. Learn more about the Second Harvest Food Pantry.

Join United Way's Food Access conversation online! Use hashtag #LVFood4All.