HHS’s campaign to promote healthy, efficient cooking could use SNAP-Ed support

By Dennis Archambault

It’s difficult to argue with the statement, “Americans have forgotten how to cook.” Certainly, multiple American generations have eaten with variations on convenience food. Despite growing interest in celebrity chefs and cooking classes, a large segment of generations from Boomers-on have lost cooking skills, especially healthy cooking techniques. So, when MAHA Action (an advocacy organization supporting the Make America Healthy Again movement) celebrated Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new initiatives to promote cooking skills, someone might say it’s obviously good advice. As the post reads:

“Every American can feed themselves cheaper than fast food.”

“Many of them don’t have the cutlery, they don’t have the pots and pans, they don’t have the cutting boards, and they don’t know how to shop.”

“One of the things that we’re talking about now at HHS is to use the Commission Corps or other groups within our agency to go out and actually teach people to cook.”

Diane Cress, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, Wayne State University, noted the irony of the post:  The Trump administration last year announced the discontinuation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program education (SNAP-Ed). As she writes in “The Conversation,” an online publication that addresses scientific news by academics: “SNAP-Ed taught people how to identify healthy food patterns, keep food safe and navigate a complex food environment. It also taught low-income Americans how to improve their budgeting and planning for meals that balance cost and nutrition. It’s nearly impossible to meet your basic nutritional needs if you are relying on SNAP dollars alone to fill your grocery cart. Skills are required.”

SNAP-Ed, she says, saved $10 for every dollar it spent helping low-income people get healthier.

Authority Health patients and Detroit community residents benefited from Michigan State University Extension’s SNAP-Ed programs in healthy cooking technique, until the program ended. We have retained a commitment to promote nutrition and cooking skills, but  miss MSU’s presence at the Ruby Cole Community Kitchen.

Yes, we need to learn healthier cooking skills and strategies for cooking well on a tight budget.  And it’s good that national health leaders recognize that. But they should align budgetary decisions with health policy.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.