Category: Latest News

FamilyCook Productions Wins Robin Hood Foundation’s FUEL for 50 Challenge 

The award, valued at $1 Million, expands “Nibble with Willow™” Program in NYC   [New York, NEW YORK, April 9, 2024] – FamilyCook Productions is thrilled to announce it is a grand prize winner in the Robin Hood FUEL for 50 challenge, a three-year, $10 million initiative to bolster learning and development opportunities for young children…
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Interested in Exploring a Career in Teaching Kitchens? We Are Piloting a New College-Level Course That Has You Covered! 

The emerging field of Teaching Kitchens has been growing rapidly, especially among health professionals (nutritionists, health coaches, nurses, physicians etc.). As pioneers in the field, we know that developing the workforces for this new field is critical. FamilyCook foresees a range of roles, including peer educators and Teaching Kitchen Assistants, whose backgrounds mirror the diverse communities…
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In Sync With Nature: How Eating Seasonally Supports Child Nutrition

We live in an environment where child nutrition often takes the back burner in favor of convenience, even when educational programs designed to encourage healthy eating are in place. All too often, these programs are limited to the same narrow range of foods and fail to inspire lasting learning–but it doesn’t have to be that…
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Nibble with Willow: A Wholesome Animated Show Teaching Kids the Joy of Cooking and Nutrition

Series is part of a play-based nutrition program for preschool and elementary students Oct. 10, 2023 In an era where children’s programming is in search of fresh innovation, a new animated series, Nibble with Willow, is set to captivate young audiences and inspire healthy eating habits nationwide. Created by FamilyCook Productions, a pioneer in culinary…
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Planting the Seeds of Healthy Habits With Digital Communication Channels 

As parents and educators, we all want to encourage our children to develop healthy habits that span across their physical, emotional and social well-being. It’s no secret that digital channels play a large role in how young minds think and grow; but did you know it can also be an incredible tool for implementing positive…
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Building the Evidence Base for Teaching Kitchens: Demonstrating Sustained Effect

Having the funding and ability to follow participants in Teaching Kitchen (TK) interventions over time is extremely difficult and rare. Most programs are working off of philanthropic grants with shorter time frames and such funding sources are infrequently renewed. Hence just keeping a TK effort going is tough enough, let alone obtaining IRB approval and…
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The Effective Virtual Teaching Kitchen: Why recorded videos fail to support behavior change

In the many rounds of assessing teaching kitchen curriculum for young children, adolescents and families over the past couple decades, our team at FamilyCook have observed that support from other participants is a key motivator for people to enact change. The support that participants provide to one another, suggestions they share for surmounting a range…
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FamilyCook’s Teen Battle Chefs Collaborate on New School Breakfast Items

New leadership will generally bring about change and, hopefully, new opportunities. When the new NYC Department of Education Chancellor came on board in fall 2018, healthy school meal advocates like FamilyCook began hearing some exciting overtures from OFNS!  Partnerships are on the rise and FamilyCook’s Teen Battle Chef program has developed an exciting opportunity to…
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USDA Announces Teen Battle Chef Included in the 2019 SNAP-Ed Toolkit!

As a result of the post 2008 recession stimulus funding added to the federal budget, one of the very largest federal nutrition education funding mechanisms has been SNAP-Ed. Shortly thereafter, the SnapEd toolkit debuted to provide a compendium of model evidence-based programs that states could use to ensure their Snap-Ed grantees would be running effective…
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FamilyCook Employs Youth to Strengthen NYC Summer Meal Participation

When it comes to employing summer youth, the NYD Dept of Youth and Community Development’s Summer Youth Employment Program is a huge boon to high school students who need experience in the responsibilities that come with entry-level employment. This summer, through support from the American Dairy Association North East, FamilyCook is delighted to hire 15…
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FamilyCook Productions Wins Robin Hood Foundation’s FUEL for 50 Challenge

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