Guiding Question: Why should food literacy and cooking skills be taught in schools?

Cooking and food safety skills should be taught in schools because they are crucial parts of food literacy and help promote healthy long-term habits, self-confidence, and safe kitchen practices. Schools are ideal settings for food literacy lessons as students consume 30-50% of daily food at school (Bailey et al., 2019). The Nutrition and Health (HFA4U) course, as an example, teaches foundational skills like kitchen safety, food preparation techniques, and critical thinking.

A study conducted by the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, showed that a four-day food literacy boot camp helped students improve their cooking confidence, practice safe food handling like washing produce and preventing cross-contamination, and make healthier choices long-term like reducing sugar consumption and choosing balanced meals when eating out. The general conclusion for the study was that hands-on learning in kitchen safety and food prep, even short-term, can lead to behavior changes and increased awareness surrounding nutrition and health (Sullivan et al., 2025).

In other studies, students improved their ability to prepare food, budget and read food labels. Low-income students benefited from this by learning affordable cooking strategies. Although students may face barriers like cost and time when trying to eat healthy, teaching them how to plan meals and cook meals can help promote equity and practical life lessons (Bailey et al., 2019).

Additionally, another 18-week elective cooking course in New Brunswick high schools improved students’ cooking and food skills, especially among boys who previously had limited prior experience in the kitchen. The study showed how programs like these can help break stereotypes and allow people to develop essential life skills regardless of social norms (LeBlanc et al., 2022).

Canada’s dietary guidelines emphasize the importance of food literacy and state,“Food skills are needed to navigate the complex food environment and support healthy eating” (Importance of Food Skills, 2022). Especially with processed food filling our environment, knowing how to prepare nutritious meals and understand food labels becomes important. Teaching these skills at school helps reduce the reliance on unhealthy fast foods, lowers food waste and encourages lifelong habits of mindful eating, meal planning, and cultural appreciation (Importance of Food Skills, 2022).