Cooking shows can help kids make healthy food choices
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* Aaron Warnick

Researchers have found a new way to convince children to eat their vegetables — have them watch a cooking show.

In a January study in the *Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior,* researchers in the Netherlands found that after children watched a cooking show featuring healthy foods, they were more than twice as likely to choose nutritious foods immediately after.

“The findings from this study indicate cooking programs can be a promising tool for promoting positive changes in children’s food-related preferences, attitudes, and behaviors,” said lead author Frans Folkvord, PhD, assistant professor at Tilburg University, in a news release.

In the study, Folkvord and his team showed schoolchildren an episode of a kid-oriented cooking show. The children either saw an episode where healthy foods were featured or one where they were not. At the end of the show, the children were offered a reward for watching — either an apple and cucumber or potato chips and pretzels. Children who watched the healthier show were more likely to choose the produce.

Several factors may have boosted the interest in healthy snacks, the study said. Showing the young audience a certain type of food may have primed them to reach for something similar when given the opportunity — a response to cravings they might have experienced by seeing the foods. As the cooking shows featured peers, participants may have been motivated by a role-model effect, the researchers suggested.

Other studies have found that when children attend cooking classes or are involved with food preparation, it influences their attitudes toward food.

If schools incorporate cooking programs and culinary skills into their curricula, it could inspire healthier habits, according to Folkvord.

“Schools represent the most effective and efficient way to reach a large section of an important target population, which includes children as well as school staff and the wider community,” he said.

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*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association