Five cooking programs changing the lives of vulnerable Australians

There’s one way to help our most vulnerable to become healthier: teach them to cook nutritious food on a budget. Here are a few inspiring programs that are changing Australia’s eating habits, one dish at a time.

Helping people to regain the art of cooking

Jamie’s Ministry of Food program, delivered by The Good Foundation in Australia, sets out to tackle one big issue that’s contributing to a growing national obesity epidemic and the development of obesity-related diseases like heart disease and diabetes – people are forgetting how to cook.

“Today, cooking skills are not being passed on like they used to,” the organisation’s website reads. “If we don’t even know the basics about food and cooking, we’re not likely to give it a try. Within a couple more generations we are at risk of completely losing our cooking skills.”

The Jamie’s Ministry of Food Program runs hands-on cooking courses for people aged 12 and over so they can learn basic skills – simple food preparation techniques, food storage, nutritional principles, meal planning and meal budgeting. The aim is to get people cooking again and teach them how to live a more nutritious lifestyle, fuelled by hearty home cooking.

To date, the program has worked with almost 40,000 participants including school students, single parents, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the unemployed, youth, people with a disability and families on low incomes.

The program runs for five weeks, as that is “the ideal amount of time the required to embed health benefits for the long term,” the organisation says. Each 90-minute class costs $10-$30, depending on the participant, as the course is subsidised.

You can read the full article on SBS’s website here.