- The overall goal of
Cooking in the Canyon
is just to provide an
opportunity for students,
faculty, and staff to come in,
learn from experts in the field,
do hands on cooking that
incorporates healthful,
wholesome foods, and
enhance their knowledge
on various nutrition related topics.
Hopefully they take the tools
they learn in this class
and they can apply it
to their life at home.
- I'm hoping that after I graduate
and have my own apartment,
I'll get to cook more
fun and unique things.
- From day one when we started this,
I worked with the dietician
on almost all the recipes.
We try to have that health
and wellness in everything.
Removing some of the animal
based protein from your meals
and replacing it with
a plant based protein.
Little bit healthier,
great for the environment,
reducing our carbon footprint.
The students that I see,
it's becoming more and more prevalent
that they want a meat substitute.
- Overall, try to be more conscious
of the choices I'm making,
as far as nutrition,
and think about what
kinds of foods I'm eating
a little bit more closely.
- Each station is set
up for the participant.
We have all the ingredients set out
and in the measurements needed.
Each station has recipe
cards that they can reference
throughout the class,
and it also has a nutrition handout.
We have whatever they might
need to prepare that recipe.
- Everything we're
doing, they're hands on,
they're making it, they're taking it home.
- The biggest challenge in
marketing Cooking in the Canyon
was actually the location.
The only venue we had available
was on the edge of campus
and up a hill,
so we really pulled out all the stops
to get the marketing out.
We promoted it in our weekly dining email,
Facebook ads, Instagram posts.
Through a whole
combination of team effort,
we found really engaging
themes that we could promote.
- Each Cooking in the Canyon class
has a different nutrition
and wellness topic.
Lots of people have a
bad idea around carbs,
so we talk about benefits
that carbohydrates
provide our bodies,
and how to use carbohydrates
to prepare nutritious,
wholesome meals.
When we did sushi, we looked
at prebiotics and probiotics
and different food
sources that provide those
and the health benefits that
those provide our bodies.
- The nutritional values
of seaweed and miso
was not something that I ever
really thought about before.
- The chef had made these
miso-covered roasted vegetables,
and I like making miso soup with ramen,
but I haven't really
used it in anything else.
I learned a lot more about
the health benefits of it,
as well as other ways I can incorporate it
into food that I make.
- Once we really got the word out,
and word of mouth started spreading,
and people really learned
about the program,
people were eager to sign up.
We're getting really great
feedback from people,
as well as new ideas for
what staff and students
are hungry to learn about.
- Campus dining offers this class free
for our students, faculty, and staff.
We just want to support them
so that they can learn how
to create healthy meals,
learn how to cook, and
take these tools with them
the rest of their lives.
(upbeat music)
