Why Culinary Medicine?
- Traditional nutrition education often tells you what to eat, but Culinary Medicine shows you how to eat.
- By combining the "why" of medical science with the "how" of culinary arts, we help families like yours overcome common barriers—like picky eating, tight budgets, or limited time—to find a path to health that feels like a celebration rather than a chore.
Culinary Medicine:
- Is an interdisciplinary, evidence-based field.
- Focuses on teaching and empowering individuals and families.
- Integrates nutrition principles with cooking knowledge and techniques.
- Includes all aspects of meal planning and preparation.
- Supports the prevention, management, and treatment of disease.
- Translates nutritional needs into actionable, culturally meaningful, and enjoyable meals.
- Acknowledges that food choices are shaped by accessibility, inequities, and social context.
How We Bring Culinary Medicine to Life
CHOP Culinary Medicine aims to support patients and families with many different health needs, including cancer, food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, heart conditions, kidney disease, and healthy weight management. We also collaborate with programs that aim to address food insecurity to make supporting health through food more accessible for all.
Our impact extends far beyond the traditional clinical setting. We work to translate nutrition and medical science into tangible, everyday tools for our families through four primary avenues:
- Evidence-Based Recipe Development: Our recipes are crafted to support the nutrition needs of children as part of an anti-inflammatory meal pattern. Recipes can accommodate individual energy needs, food allergies and intolerances, as well as taste and texture preferences, and support digestion. Every dish is tested for "kid-approved" flavor.
- Comprehensive Educational Materials: Navigating a new diagnosis can be overwhelming. We can collaborate with medical teams to provide families with easy-to-digest guides, shopping lists, and demonstration videos to help meet complex requirements through practical kitchen wins.
- Interactive Cooking Events: Through community and hospital-based cooking classes, we can bring the joy of the kitchen to our patients. These sessions can provide hands-on experience, teaching essential skills that make healthy eating sustainable for busy families.
- Advancing the Field Through Research: Our team conducts ongoing research to measure the impact of culinary interventions on patient outcomes. With evidence, we can optimize care and support the continued integration of culinary medicine in pediatric healthcare.
Teaching future healthcare providers
Through partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, CHOP Culinary Medicine also helps pediatric residents and medical students learn how to use culinary medicine to support patients—bringing knowledge from the kitchen to the clinic.