[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":94},["ShallowReactive",2],{"pages-686bc770ebae028a1164448b":3},{"_id":4,"state":5,"name":6,"category":7,"theme":8,"components":9,"keywords":84},"686bc770ebae028a1164448b","active","Public support for community-based cooking education","discover","european_food_system_dashboard",[10,22,31,38,45,52,59,66],{"type":11,"index":12,"variation":13,"imageURL":14,"title":15,"description":17,"button":19},"header",0,"image_left","https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/8acbb2a1-7483-43c5-a3c4-5f587e5f3010",{"en_GB":16},"Provide resources for community cooking classes",{"en_GB":18},"- Food system activity: Final consumption\n- Governance level: Local/regional\n- Cluster: Social equity, economic and community support\n- Origin: Hungary/Spain\n- Type of policy intervention: Financial",{"label":20,"URL":21},{"en_GB":21},"",{"type":23,"index":24,"variation":25,"imageURL":26,"title":27,"description":29},"image_and_text",1,"image_right","https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/1c0aace6-2325-4a53-96d6-5d50235b85c7",{"en_GB":28},"Intervention Details",{"en_GB":30},"This intervention concerns providing resources for community cooking classes. It involves public or civil society support to deliver hands-on culinary education programs aimed at enhancing cooking literacy, nutrition knowledge, and food agency, especially among low-income or vulnerable populations. These initiatives typically focus on teaching participants how to prepare healthy, affordable meals using fresh ingredients, while also embedding broader lessons about sustainable eating habits. As a food policy intervention, community cooking classes are often implemented through partnerships between local governments, NGOs, healthcare providers, and schools, with some countries integrating them into broader public health, obesity prevention, or food justice strategies. ",{"type":23,"index":32,"variation":13,"imageURL":33,"title":34,"description":36},2,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/c32b40e5-d2c2-44bb-a1ed-0e0d2ba39795",{"en_GB":35},"Examples of implementation",{"en_GB":37},"This intervention was proposed in two of the living labs, Hungary and Spain. In the Spanish case, the discussion focused on revitalizing traditional cooking practices and community-based culinary education to promote healthier habits. The goal was to involve not just schools but also workplaces and cafeterias. In particular, this intervention was developed to preserve knowledge about food origins, cooking techniques and seasonal cycles, which are being lost in the younger generations. In the case of Hungary, the intervention was brought up during the summit as something that is already present at around 200 locations in Hungary for people in socio-economically deprived areas, used for education, providing healthy ingredients and serving as a place for community support. This is particularly suited for the target group of the Hungarian living lab of single parents with lower socio-economic status.  ",{"type":39,"index":40,"variation":41,"imageURL":21,"title":42,"description":43},"title_and_text",3,"title_description",{"en_GB":21},{"en_GB":44},"This intervention has been implemented in many member states at the local or regional level, often by municipalities in neighbourhoods. To give just one example, in Germany, local public health authorities (*Gesundheitsämter*) actively promote cooking workshops and practical nutrition education as part of the national “IN FORM” initiative, aligning with both the German Nutrition Society’s dietary guidelines and municipal health promotion efforts (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, n.d.). These activities typically include community-based cooking sessions and hands-on meal preparation demonstrations to encourage healthy eating habits across populations. From a scientific perspective, Garcia et al. (2016)’s literature review on community-based cooking interventions reveals people’s increased confidence in cooking skills, with vulnerable, low-socioeconomic population groups benefiting more from these interventions. While the effectiveness of community cooking programmes for actually changing eating behaviour is not consistent, there are self-reported increases in fruit and vegetable consumption across studies (Garcia et al., 2016). ",{"type":23,"index":46,"variation":25,"imageURL":47,"title":48,"description":50},4,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/afec88ea-040b-4549-a51c-f75cc9a63be5",{"en_GB":49},"Key implementation challenges",{"en_GB":51},"The scale-up and long-term sustainability of community cooking classes face several challenges. At the local level, programs often depend on, volunteer staff, or in-kind contributions, leading to inconsistent coverage and quality. The implementation of cooking programs often takes place in close collaboration with civil society organizations and can be highly dependent on a small group of volunteers that creates vulnerability to the continuity of such programs. Moreover, community cooking initiatives are often locally organized and depend on municipal budgets with often short-term grants, with financial precarity of such initiatives as a result. To successfully implement this intervention, it is therefore essential to provide long-term funding to community initiatives for cooking as well as build long-lasting relationships between municipalities and organizations involved in these initiatives.",{"type":23,"index":53,"variation":13,"imageURL":54,"title":55,"description":57},5,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/b466ae36-722e-4837-9540-cd11b3d71ab9",{"en_GB":56},"Expert Evaluation",{"en_GB":58},"Experts rated the effectiveness of this policy intervention at an average of 3.30/5.00 (SD = 1.13), reflecting a moderately positive assessment (ranked 13th out of 20). While survey respondents highlighted that it could provide an engaging experience, they also argued that the intervention’s reach would be weak, particularly for people with problematic diets. Experts further questioned its effectiveness given the broader trend of declining home cooking and noted that its largely voluntary nature may limit its impact at scale. Average effectiveness scores across countries show that Hungary and Spain were most positive about the intervention (4.00, 3.60), while Sweden was the most critical (2.50). The average feasibility score was 3.65/5.00 (SD = 1.04), indicating a positive assessment and ranking 9th overall. Experts identified that community-based cooking education is relatively low-cost, politically uncontroversial, and already implement across EU member states, which demonstrates its feasibility. ",{"type":39,"index":60,"variation":61,"imageURL":21,"title":62,"description":64},6,"title_image_description",{"en_GB":63},"List of References",{"en_GB":65},"•\tFederal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (n.d.). Healthy diet. In Food and nutrition. Retrieved July 22, 2025, from [https://www.bmel.de/EN/topics/food-and-nutrition/healthy-diet/healthy-diet_node.html](https://www.bmel.de/EN/topics/food-and-nutrition/healthy-diet/healthy-diet_node.html) \n•\tGarcia, A. L., Reardon, R., McDonald, M., & Vargas-Garcia, E. J. (2016). Community interventions to improve cooking skills and their effects on confidence and eating behaviour. Current nutrition reports, 5(4), 315-322.",{"type":67,"index":68,"variation":69,"title":70,"contact1":72,"contact2":78,"contact3":81},"contacts",7,"title_top",{"en_GB":71},"CONTACT",{"imageURL":73,"name":74,"description":76},"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/771281e8-fca5-4ec7-a45c-0addca312f67",{"en_GB":75},"Jeroen Candel",{"en_GB":77},"Associate professor of food and agricultural policy​",{"imageURL":21,"name":79,"description":80},{"en_GB":21},{"en_GB":21},{"imageURL":21,"name":82,"description":83},{"en_GB":21},{"en_GB":21},[85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93],"final consumption","local","regional","social equity","economic and community support","hungary","spain","financial","policy intervention",1776157872447]