Presented BY

three recommendations
for children and adolescents
to develop food and cooking
competencies at school
PRESENTED BY
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
The quality of
the childhood
diet influences
the health,
growth, and
cognitive
development of
young people.
Health: a healthy diet reduces the
potential risk for obesity and chronic
diseases, such as cardiovascular disease,
certain types of cancer, and type 2
diabetes 1 .
Academic success: a healthy, balanced,
and varied diet has been linked to better
academic performance 2 .
In elementary schooL 3 :
Only 5% to 11% of children eat the
minimum amounts recommended by
Canada’s Food Guide for each of the
four main food groups.
One-third of 6- to 8-year-olds
consume soda, candy, or chips at least
once a day.
Dietary habits
of children and
adolescents
need
improvement.
In secondary school 4 :
Two-thirds of students do not eat the
minimum daily servings of fruits and
vegetables recommended by
Canada’s Food Guide.
Only half of students (42% of girls and
54% of boys) meet the recommended
daily intake of dairy products.
Nearly one-third of students (36% of
boys and 27% of girls) eat fast food
three or more times during the school
week (Monday to Friday).
Crumbling food and cooking
competencies…
Many experts have observed a decline in food and cooking
competencies among young people owing, among other things, to
decreased opportunity to develop them 5 6 .
Frequent consumption of processed foods, from grocery stores
or restaurants, 7 8 9 leads to basic cooking skills not being
handed down.
At home, whereas 8 out of 10 adults saw their parents cook every
day, only about 4 out of 10 parents now prepare dinner every night.
As a result, children have fewer learning opportunities 10 .
At school, nutrition and cooking were taught in Home Economics
classes until 1997; 25% of the time was devoted to food and
cooking competencies.
… a cause for concern.
Whereas 8 out
of 10 adults saw
their parents cook
at home every day,
only about 4 out
According to Health Canada 9 , the loss of food and cooking
knowhow could have a major impact on quality of diet and health.
of 10 parents today
Regular consumption of processed fast food 3 4 , often high
in added salt, sugar, fat, and artificial flavours draws young people
away from the real taste of food.
prepare dinner every
Benefits of developing
these competencies
night. As a result,
children have fewer
chances to learn.
Young adults who have acquired food and cooking competencies
and who cook regularly:
have a more varied diet 9 ;
eat less fast food 11 ;
are more likely to achieve the recommended daily intake of
healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, calcium, folate,
vitamin A, and fibre 11 .
Children who cook, who explore foods with their five senses, or
who garden 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 :
are more willing to try new foods;
are exposed to a wider variety of foods;
seem to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Food and cooking competencies contribute to boost self-confidence
and sense of pride in young people 21 .
What are food and cooking
competencies?
Food and cooking competencies include 9 22 23 :
Knowledge about food and nutrition (e.g.,
balanced diet, food origin, debunking myths)
Food planning (e.g., meal planning, food
budgeting)
Conceptualization (e.g., preparing meals with
basic ingredients or leftovers, adapting recipes)
Food preparation and gardening techniques
Sensory perception of foods (e.g., exploring the
pleasure of eating, appreciating foods through
the five senses: texture, taste, smell, flavour,
colour, etc.)
Parents,
communities,
institutions,
and
governments all have a role to play to enable
young people to develop their food and cooking
competencies and experience the pleasure of
healthy eating.
School being the second most important
environment for young people after the family,
it is an ideal environment for promoting healthy
eating habits and developing food and cooking
competencies 24 . This has been recognized by
the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports
in its Framework Policy Going the Healthy Route at
School 25 , by the “Healthy Schools” approach 26 ,
as well as by the Institut national de santé publique
du Québec [Public Health Institute of Quebec] in
its summary of recommendations entitled Réussite
éducative, santé, bien-être : agir efficacement en
contexte scolaire 27 [Academic success, health,
well-being: intervening effectively in schools].
Since the implementation of the most recent
Québec Education Program, developing food and
cooking competencies has fallen mainly under the
“Health and Well-being” area of learning. Though
these skills may still be part of the academic
curriculum, they are less explicitly so than before
the 1997 school reform. Consequently, local,
regional, and provincial initiatives are being
introduced across Quebec to promote the
development of food and cooking competencies
in young people at school. However, these
activities are not accessible to all and sometimes
have a precarious standing.
90% of Quebecers
think young people
should have cooking
workshops at school.
Yet, according to a recent survey 28 , Quebecers
would like to see schools play a bigger role in the
matter: 90% thought young people should have
cooking workshops at school. What’s more, children and adolescents seem to enjoy this type of
activity. Indeed, 79% of students who took part in
the Quebec-based survey Tout le monde à table 10
reported that they would like to do more cooking.
It is essential for youth to experience food in a positive manner and to have the chance to
develop their competencies if they are going to cultivate and maintain good eating habits,
now and later in life. This is why many experts are taking concerted action to propose
effective and promising recommendations for the government, schools, and municipalities.
O B J ECTIVE
To create the conditions to enable Quebec schools
to offer all young people the opportunity to develop
their food and cooking competencies and experience
the pleasure of healthy eating.
recommEndation 1
Encourage and support food
and cooking workshops in in-school
childcare services, extracurricular
activities, and student life
Why?
In schools, childcare services are looking to diversify their educational activities, especially with new
ones that allow learning through play. This is why
many educators and directors of childcare services
are showing great interest in cooking, tasting, or
gardening activities.
As for extra-curricular activities, they may be seen in
a more positive light because they are often chosen
by students themselves. Thus, they represent special
opportunities for developing food and cooking competencies from primary through secondary school.
The Framework Policy Going the Healthy Route at
School 25 encourages organizing such activities. According to discussion groups led by Secondaire en
Spectacle in 2011, the culinary arts are popular with
young people, especially among boys.
It is also possible to take advantage of certain moments within student life, such as breaks, mealtimes, and special events, to encourage the development of these competencies.
What is the current situation
in Quebec?
Childcare services have integrated food and culinary activities into their daily activities or PD days,
implementing programs proposed by various organizations  29   30   31   32  .
Organizations 29   33 hold extracurricular culinary workshops or friendly cooking contests.
Extracurricular activities related to food and
cooking competencies vary from one school
to the next: some schools offer them regularly
while others do not offer them at all.
What can government do?
Provide school boards and schools with the resources they need to adequately train and equip
staff members involved in childcare services or
extracurricular activities.
Recognize teachers’ extracurricular involvement
focused on healthy living as part of their workload.
Foster extracurricular activities to develop students’ food and cooking competencies through
sufficient funding, especially in disadvantaged
communities.
Subsidize school purchases of small kitchen
equipment (e.g., utensils, bowls, cutting boards)
and gardening tools and supplies (e.g., containers, soil, shovels, trowels).
What can schools do?
Offer young people fun, game-based activities
around food and cooking in childcare services
and extracurricular programs.
Ensure that the service providers concerned
have received training in nutrition, including
food preparation, food and taste education, and
the importance of having a positive relationship
with food.
Involve food service workers and cooks to support the school staff during cooking, tasting, or
educational gardening activities.
recommEndation 2
Encourage and support
the development of food
and cooking competencies
in the classroom
Why?
Food and cooking activities can be used to teach
and put into practice many elements of the Québec
Education Program (QEP). Some teachers use such
activities to convey notions associated with competencies specific to other school subjects, such as
mathematics, science and technology, languages,
social sciences, physical education and health, and
even arts.
For example:
In science and technology: studying food
origins, exploring food with all five senses,
gardening, etc.
In mathematics: multiplying fractions to
increase a recipe’s yield, converting units of
measure, planning the layout of a vegetable
garden, etc.
In languages: practising reading comprehension by following a recipe, developing the
culinary lexicon and the vocabulary of the
palate, etc.
These activities can also be used to foster the
development of other abilities essential to achieving
QEP objectives, such as broad areas of learning
and cross-curricular competencies. For instance,
through classroom cooking workshops, students
may be asked to address issues related to health
and well-being, adopt effective work methods, or
use creativity.
Because children enjoy doing workshops and experiments involving food and cooking, integrating
these in the various academic subjects could prove
a strategy conducive to motivation, learning, and
academic perseverance. In addition, youths engage
in these workshops very actively, often with their
five senses, which could facilitate the integration of
different ways of knowing.
What is the current situation
in Quebec?
External organizations offer food and
cooking workshops that have been evaluated
and carefully structured to meet the QEP
requirements 29 30 31 32 34 .
Some school boards and health and social
service centres (CSSS) have established training
programs that provide knowledge and tools
for teachers to develop food and cooking
competencies in young people.
Non-profit organizations 35 also transfer
their expertise in facilitation and organization
of cooking classes, educational gardening,
and sensorial exploration and taste-related
activities—a practice that merits wider diffusion.
What can government do?
Provide resources to allow school boards and
schools to support teachers’ use of development
of food and cooking competencies as an
educational vehicle for QEP objectives.
Subsidize the purchase of equipment and food
supplies for food and cooking activities.
Inform teachers of the various connections
between food and cooking competencies and
the QEP.
Enhance educational materials to facilitate and
increase the opportunities for teachers to gain
food and cooking knowledge.
Work together with partners (organizations
and experts) to help create and distribute
learning and evaluation situations aimed at
developing food and cooking competencies.
Encourage publishers to include in teaching
guides suggestions for activities in connection
with food and cooking competencies, of
which the food and nutritional content
should be validated by a dietician.
What can schools do?
Provide teachers with the means and support to
implement food and cooking activities in coursework.
Recognize that food and nutrition can be used
to develop subject-specific and cross-curricular
competencies, address general areas of learning, and achieve objectives in the school’s success plan.
Include the objective “To provide a safe,
secure, and healthy environment” 36 in
the Management and Educational Success
Agreement between school boards and schools.
This inclusion would facilitate the integration of
food and cooking competency development at
school.
recommEndation 3
Facilitate sharing of kitchen space
and equipment or the procurement
of food supplies for food
and cooking workshops
Why?
Schools are not alone in having an interest in food
and cooking activities. For instance, community
groups see such activities as opportunities to reduce
food costs for disadvantaged groups. Some municipal recreation departments also want to offer cooking workshops to residents or hold day camps on
food-related themes. However, access to appropriate spaces and the lack of kitchen equipment (e.g.,
stoves, refrigerators) or gardening tools are often
obstacles to the implementation of these activities.
Establishing partnerships among schools, municipalities, and community groups is, therefore, a promising avenue for optimal use of resources. These agreements can help connect families, communities, and
youths, and create continuity with school activities.
The procurement of food supplies can also be a challenge for some schools, given that it is a recurring
expense. Once again, partner agreements with local farms or retailers could be a strategy to minimize
costs for schools and support local purchasing.
What is the current situation
in Quebec?
In the years following the elimination of Home Economics classes, kitchens were dismantled in most
high schools. Reinstating them would be impossible
in the short- or medium-term, given the lack of available classrooms due to the increase in the number
of students over the last decade and the decrease in
the student-teacher ratio and to safety issues associated with aging infrastructure (e.g., electrical wiring,
ventilation). Consequently, although some schools
have chosen to re-equip and dedicate space to foodrelated and cooking activities, the majority of schools
currently lack the necessary equipment.
At the same time, some municipalities have kitchens
for leisure activities, collective kitchens or even community gardens. Other cities are looking to meet citizen demand for such facilities and could be interested in sharing certain costs with schools in this regard.
What can government do?
Establish a partnership among the Ministry of
Education, Recreation and Sports, the Ministry
of Health and Social Services, and the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to foster support
for food and cooking activities at school. For
example:
The Ministry of Education, Recreation and
Sports and the Ministry of Health and Social
Services could offer joint grants to support
the development of food and cooking
competencies.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food could facilitate local supply of fresh
produce for food and cooking activities in
schools or subsidize training and equipment
for gardening at school.
Partially subsidize projects to set up kitchens or
vegetable gardens in schools or in municipal facilities accessible to students.
What can schools do?
Form partnerships with their municipality, other
schools, or community organizations in order
to make optimum use of cooking or gardening
facilities and equipment available in certain
settings.
Establish agreements with food service providers
to use kitchens and some equipment in order
to facilitate the implementation of cooking
workshops.
Cooperate with community organizations,
municipal day camps, or community gardens
to plant a garden during the school year and
maintain it over the summer.
What can municipalities do?
Maintain and develop partnership agreements
with schools to share kitchens and cooking
equipment.
Support the collaborative relationship between
community groups and schools that offer food
and cooking workshops.
Conditions
for success
In order to have a positive and lasting influence on children’s
and adolescents’ nutrition, food and cooking activities must
be fun. They should also be 37 :
based on young people’s interests;
adapted to the children’s developmental stage and
learning rate;
offered with sufficient frequency and continuity.
Training for teachers and other educators is also important
to ensure that actions that can influence children’s relationship with food, are appropriate.
Finally, schools stand to benefit from inviting parents and
grandparents to participate in food and cooking workshops with the students. Among other things, doing so
can 38 :
help strengthen the ties between school and home;
give parents resources to foster the transfer of foodand cooking-related learning to family life;
encourage significant adults to get involved in the
child’s school life, a key factor in academic success.
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in Quebec, aged 18 to 74 (November 12-20, 2012).
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pcpr_2008.htm
For more information, visit www.cqpp.qc.ca/EN
under the section “Food and Cooking Competencies”.
The recommendations were made by a panel of experts consisting of:
Jean-François Archambault, Executive Director, La Tablée des Chefs
Louise Beauchesne, President, Je suis capable workshops
Martine Carrière, Executive Director, Les ateliers cinq épices
Fannie Dagenais, Executive Director, ÉquiLibre
Martine David, Executive Director, Jeunes Pousses
Mariane Dion, Nutrition Advisor, Québec en Forme
Jacinthe Hovington, Director, Cancer Prevention and Health Promotion,
Canadian Cancer Society – Quebec Division
Nathalie Jobin, Scientific Director, Extenso, Centre de référence sur la nutrition du département
de nutrition de l’Université de Montréal
Anne-Marie Morel, Nutrition Project Manager, Weight Coalition
Manon Paquette, Principal Nutrition Advisor, Québec en Forme
Suzie Pellerin, Executive Director, Weight Coalition
Andréane Tardif, Project Manager, Prevention and Health Promotion, Heart and Stroke Foundation
Marie Watiez, Food Psychosociologist, Sésame Consultants
© February 2014
Production of this document has been made possible through financial support
from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and Health Canada.