Destination Dinner Table
One of the most important steps families can take to improve their overall physical health is to begin preparing and eating meals at home using “real” ingredients, as opposed to pre-made and highly processed foods. Research shows that the consumprtion of processed and fast food is associated with the rise in obesity and other health related issues. Cooking at home with fresh, real (unprocessed) ingredients is the best way to ensure your children are consuming high quality, nutrient-dense calories.
Unfortunately, over the past 30 years the number of parents who feel secure and competent with basic food preparation has declined. Many parents feel they lack the skills necessary to cook a nutritious meal, in a timely fashion, within their budget — especially one that their children will eat!
genHkids’ Destination Dinner Table (DDT) programs aim to address those concerns and to give parents and children the skills they need to bring joy and good nutrition back to the kitchen and dinner table. We do this through an introductory session, offering those families that need additional help more education and encouragement through our DDT Kitchen Skills series.
The DDT Back to the Table program is a one and a half hour session in which parents work in the kitchen, learning to prepare a nutritious, from-scratch meal quickly and easily. Meanwhile, genHkids’ staff and volunteers work with children, teaching them to set the table, working on basic etiquette, playing nutrition games and participating in Brain Breaks. When the meal is ready, all participants sit down to eat together family style. At the program’s conclusion, parents leave with important nutritional information, a weekly menu and shopping guide, and a sense of accomplishment and increased confidence in their ability to cook at home.
For those families that need more than just one class to change the way that they prepare food, we offer DDT Kitchen Skills. This series of 6 classes introduces cooking skills, covering things like knife skills, recipe terminology, measurements, food handling and preparation; nutrition concepts, like the make up of a balanced meal, the value of nutritionally dense foods, and more; and skills surrounding kitchen organization and planning, like budgeting, meal planning and kitchen stocking.
This program can be hosted in schools, churches or other community kitchens. A nominal fee may be required to cover the cost of food and supplies.