Clinics & Health Care Centers

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage, A Taste of Latin American Heritage, or A Children’s Taste of African Heritage curriculum, our healthcare partners typically offer the class series by offering one cooking class per week for six consecutive weeks, starting from lesson 1 and going all the way through lesson 6. Each session is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

  • Tracking Success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle and physical health evaluations tracking weight, blood pressure, and waist circumference, in addition to measuring healthy eating behaviors.  Tracking success helps ensure that participants make lasting changes to their health and well-being.
  • Methodology: Healthcare centers typically offer the classes on-site in a lecture/ presentation set-up. In this setting, the participants follow the lecture and try samples at the location and/or try the recipes in full serving sizes at home. For healthcare centers with formal teaching kitchens, the classes can incorporate more hands-on interaction.

 

Universities

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage or A Taste of Latin American Heritage curriculum, many of our University partners offer the class series in a way that best suits their syllabus and time availability. The six-week nutrition and cooking program may be expanded for a semester or condensed to follow the academic calendar. The instructor may choose to give the lessons out of order, but they will complete all lesson plans from the curriculum. Each lesson is 1 hour and 45 minutes and the university may adjust the time to fit within their allocated time frame for each class.

  • Tracking Success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle and physical health evaluations tracking weight, blood pressure, and waist circumference, in addition to measuring healthy eating behaviors.  Tracking success helps ensure that participants make lasting changes to their health and well-being. If universities are interested in using the curriculum as part of a nutrition intervention study or publishing the results in academic journals, please contact us to learn more about research partnerships. 
  • Methodology: Universities typically offer the classes on-site in a lecture/ presentation set-up or in a hands-on cooking set-up. For lecture settings, the participants follow the lecture and try samples at the location and/or try the recipes in full serving sizes at home. For hands-on cooking settings where there is access to teaching kitchens, the classes can incorporate more hands-on interaction by allowing participants to cook alongside the instructor. 

 

SNAP-Ed Agencies

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage curriculum, our SNAP-Ed implementing agency partners typically offer the class series by offering one cooking class per week for six consecutive weeks, starting from lesson 1 (Traditional Herb and Spices) and going all the way through lesson 6 (Fruits and Vegetables). Each session is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

  • Tracking success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle evaluations provided. Partners are welcome to add additional questions if there is additional demographic or evaluation data that they are required to collect. Tracking success helps ensure that participants make lasting changes to their health and well-being. If facilities have the capacity to take health measurements (weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure), these measurements also help us track the succeess of the program.
  • Methodology: Depending on their community’s needs, partners offer a mix of virtual, on-site, and hybrid classes. Depending on their facility restrictions and financial capacity, some have been fortunate enough to provide ingredients for their recipients, which they’ll offer alongside the classes. All class recipes can be taught on a hotplate, meaning that minimal investments are needed to turn an ordinary classroom into a teaching kitchen.

 

Non-Profit Organizations

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage, A Taste of Latin American Heritage, or A Children’s Taste of African Heritage curriculum, our nonprofit partners typically offer the class series by offering one cooking class per week for six consecutive weeks. The instructor may choose to give the lessons out of order, but they will complete all lesson plans from the curriculum.  Each session is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

  • Tracking Success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle evaluations provided. Partners are welcome to add additional questions if there is additional demographic or evaluation data that they are required to collect. Tracking success helps ensure that participants make lasting changes to their health and well-being. If facilities have the capacity to take health measurements (weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure), these measurements also help us track the succeess of the program.
  • Methodology: Depending on their community’s needs, partners offer a mix of virtual, on-site, and hybrid classes. Depending on their facility restrictions and financial capacity, some have been fortunate enough to provide ingredients for their recipients, which they’ll offer alongside the classes. All class recipes can be taught on a hotplate, meaning that minimal investments are needed to turn an ordinary classroom into a teaching kitchen.

After School Programs

When licensing the A Children’s Taste of African Heritage curriculum, school partners typically offer one cooking class per week for seven consecutive weeks. The instructor may choose to give the lessons out of order, but they will complete all lesson plans from the curriculum. Each lesson is 1 hour and 45 minutes, and the school may alter the time to fit within their allocated time frame for each class.

  • Tracking Success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle evaluations provided. Partners are welcome to add additional questions if there is additional demographic or evaluation data that they are required to collect.
  • Methodology: Schools typically offer the classes on-site in a lecture/ presentation set-up or in a hands-on cooking set-up. For lecture settings, the students follow the lecture and try samples at the location and/or try the recipes in full serving sizes at home with their parents and guardians, allowing for ample interactive discussion. For hands-on cooking settings where there is access to teaching kitchens, the classes can incorporate more hands-on interaction by allowing students to cook alongside the instructor. The teacher’s manual offers more detailed instructions on safety and sanitation best practices for working with children.

 

Community Gardens/ Farms

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage, A Taste of Latin American Heritage, or A Children’s Taste of African Heritage curriculum, many farms and community gardens offer the class series through one-time workshops reflecting what’s in harvest in addition to offering standard class series. For instance, if leafy greens are in harvest, they may offer a one-time workshop to promote an upcoming class series, using farm fresh vegetables in the recipes. The duration of each class depends on the instructor, though 1 hour and 45 minutes is recommended.

  • Tracking Success: For one-time workshops, some partners will collect attendance and student lifestyle surveys. For full class series, we encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle evaluations provided. Tracking success helps ensure that participants make lasting changes to their health and well-being. If facilities have the capacity to take health measurements (weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure), these measurements also help us track the success of the program.
  • Methodology: Farmers market and community garden partners typically offer on-site classes in a demo style. Depending on availability, some farmers market partners are able to provide recipe ingredients for sale (or complimentary) for their students during their workshop. Using an electronic stove top portable cooker, they tend to offer a sample size for participants with the idea that students can replicate the full recipe at home.

 

Remote

When licensing the A Taste of African Heritage, A Taste of Latin American Heritage, or A Children’s Taste of African Heritage curriculum, all partners have the flexibility to offer virtual (remote) classes in addition to (or in place of) in-person classes, depending on the needs of the community. Licenees have access to digital materials including the Teacher’s Manual, Student Handbooks, and optional PowerPoint slides. Video recordings of cooking demos and lessons are available for purchase.

  • Tracking Success: We encourage partners to use the confidential lifestyle evaluations provided. These can be submitted online or scanned and emailed to Oldways. Contact us to learn more.
  • Methodology: In a virtual environment, students are able to cook alongside the instructors in real time. Make sure to share the class recipes with students at least one week in advance, so that they have time to aquire the ingredients and get their kitchen set up. We also recommend that instructors provide good lighting for themselves and their stove/cooktop. If using PowerPoint, we recommend using a laptop for the slides and a cell phone camera to show the cooking process. Before your first class, we recommend logging on 15-20 minutes early for sound/lighting check.

More virtual teaching tips