Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access

Abstract

A Sustainable Cooking Show Intervention to Address Barriers Contributing to Suboptimal Diets

Libby Gustin and Virginia Gray

This paper will discuss barriers to a healthy diet used as an evidence base for the development of an intervention aimed to promote healthy sustainable eating behaviors across socio-economic levels. An eleven-segment cooking intervention aimed to address how to source, store and prepare inexpensive nutrient-dense sustainable food with the goal to decrease suboptimal diets while supporting change at the farming level through purchasing power influence. A 31.7% response rate was obtained from a volunteer sample from three different communities in Southern California. After receiving the intervention, shopping, planning and consumption patterns shifted toward healthier habits. The significant change in participants’ understanding of the meaning of sustainable food was accompanied by changes in where they shop as well as their shopping frequency. The videos provide an engaging format to deliver the information and suggest that relevant TV cooking programs can impact barriers to cooking and provide access to health information.