Cooking up diversity. Impact of a multicomponent, multicultural, experiential intervention on food and cooking behaviors among elementary-school students from low-income ethnically diverse families

• Ethnic vegetables were promoted to children through classroom cooking activities.
• Children increased their ethnic vegetable consumption and food preparation level.
• The project helped parents increase their appreciation for new foods and recipes.

This study evaluated the impact of a pilot intervention promoting ethnic produce through classroom food demonstrations, tastings and home cooking activities among ethnically diverse elementary-school children ages 5–8 years old and their family members in Northern California. A total of 604 intervention students from four schools participated in classroom food demonstrations and tasting activities using seven food recipes. The control group included 600 students from two additional schools. Each recipe featured one vegetable from Latino, Hmong, or mainstream American cultures. Intervention students also received food kits containing ingredients to take home for each recipe. Mixed methods of quantitative student and parent pre–post surveys, parent feedback surveys, and qualitative focus groups were used to evaluate the intervention. Generalized estimating equations were used for survey data analysis. Qualitative data from parent focus groups were analyzed based on the principles of grounded theory. Both quantitative and qualitative results revealed that intervention students increased familiarity, preferences, and consumption of the featured vegetables and significantly increased their involvement in food preparation at home. Qualitative results showed that children were actively involved in food preparation at home. In addition, the intervention helped parents increase their appreciation for new foods and recipes. The results suggest that promoting locally grown ethnic produce to children is effective in increasing their consumption of a variety of vegetables and their involvement in food preparation at home.