Urban Youth: Effects of a Summer Agriculture, Cooking and Nutrition Program

Studies have shown that nutrition education coupled with a gardening program can impact youth's nutrition choices and snack preferences. An eight week study was administered over 2 summers ( 2007 and 2008), in cooperation with a local church, LSU A&M, and LSU AgCenter. The program curriculum was a combination of agriculture, cooking, nutrition, business and leadership components. The study subjects were McKinley High School students, who reside in a primarily low-income, urban, “food desert” in East Baton Rouge Parish. Students grew vegetables on university land and also gleaned produce from local farmers to sell at a weekly farm stand in their neighborhood. In addition they produced a high-quality, value-added hot sauce product, and learned cooking and nutrition one day a week on the university campus. Students were taught to cook healthy, seasonal recipes using vegetables and herbs they grew and harvested. Students (n=34) were given pre and post tests to measure their attitudes and snack preferences towards fruit and vegetables and nutrition knowledge at the start of and at the end of the 8 week program. The program also evaluated the impact on students' leadership skills development, environmental responses, and science literacy. The results of the fruit and vegetable preference survey will be presented. Qualitative data, in the form of student journals and evaluation forms, expressing the positive effects of the program on the youth's cooking, business, leadership, and life skills will also be presented.