Improving Cooking and Food Preparation Skills: A Synthesis of the Evidence to Inform Program and Policy Development

This paper outlines known facts, knowledge gaps, challenges, opportunities and health impact related to cooking and food preparation skills in children and families. The paper is one component of the collaborative project titled, “Improving Cooking and Food Preparation Skills: A Synthesis of the evidence and lessons learned to inform program and policy development” for the Healthy Living Issue Group (HLIG) of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. Information discussed is based on a literature review of the published and grey literature from 2002 to 2010.  Normalization towards convenience foods exists with a lack of traditional, home cooked meals in the family.