Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre: A peer-facilitated healthy cooking class as part of a food systems approach to increase healthy food access

Introduction: With 65% of Texans overweight or obese, the number of cases of diabetes and heart disease are skyrocketing among Latino families. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the effects of The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ (THK), a unique community-based program targeting low-income ethnically-diverse families in Texas.

Methodology: The interactive six-week program targets dietary change through teaching adult family members how to cook with and shop for healthy and culturally appropriate food. Classes are led by trained peer facilitators and are taught in Spanish or English. The Program is part of a larger, food systems approach to healthy eating and food access. After each class, participants receive a free bag of groceries to prepare the demonstrated recipe at home. Self-report surveys were administered at baseline and upon completion of the program. Differences between pre and post test data were analyzed using paired t-tests.

Results: 59 individuals completed both pre and post surveys (93% female, 89% Spanish speaking, 77% low-income). At post-test, 68.8% of of participants reported preparing meals with fruits and vegetables for their family vs. 42.6% reporting at baseline. Results indicated positive trends in eating behaviors, including a decrease in consumption of flour tortillas (30.8%, p=.29), pizza (30.2%, p=.23), sweets (32.8%, p=.017), and regular sodas (34.5%, p=.60). 32.7% of participants reported modeling eating fresh fruits and vegetables more frequently than at baseline.

Discussion: Results indicate that THK was effective in changing diet-related behaviors of Latino families as part of a systems-wide initiative in low-income communities.