Emory Teaching Kitchen Collaborative

The teaching kitchen program will include five 4-hour Saturday classes every other weekend over the course of 10 weeks (5 sessions totaling 20 hours of instruction). It will be taught by subject matter experts from the Emory University faculty and staff as well as potentially from the community. The classes will include the scientific rationale, practical applications, and recommendations for implementing self-care components into participants' daily lives. Experiential learning will include hands-on cooking demonstrations, mindfulness-based lunches, a yoga session, and a group exercise session. Rather than being prescriptive, the lectures and demonstrations are geared to inspire self-designed and personalized alterations in dietary patterns and behaviors that will match participants' culture, preferences, and health conditions. Biometrics and survey instruments will be assessed at 4 times: at baseline, after the 10-week program, and at 6 and 12 months after the program.