Teaching Kitchen

The teaching kitchen space is a state-of-the-art kitchen owned and operated by the Nourish Program (external link) through the UT Health Houston School of Public Health’s Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living. (external link)

The Nourish Program provides a unique training ground for students, healthcare professionals, and community members from Texas and nationwide. This first-of-its-kind initiative educates and equips participants with the tools, knowledge, and hands-on experience necessary to prevent and address nutrition-related health conditions and to integrate culinary medicine into medical and healthcare practice with a ‘seed to plate to prevention’ approach. Through hands-on, evidence-based classes, The Nourish Program shows people how to grow, prepare, and promote food that encourages lifelong health and well-being.

The teaching kitchen space will be utilized for 240 students during the week-long “Transition to Clerkship” course as well as one day during the “Transition to Residency” elective course.

Early, practical exposure is crucial, as recent literature supports that hands-on culinary medicine curricula outperform traditional didactic methods in preparing future doctors for chronic disease prevention and management.

“The Culinary Medicine elective during transition to residency was a perfect conclusion to our longitudinal nutrition curriculum. Hearing from Registered Dietitians on how we can best help our patients and work together towards their nutritional goals, both in and out of the hospital, really tied everything together for me.  Finally, cooking a healthy meal with alternatives to common less healthy foods, especially alongside my classmates, made the day one of my most memorable in medical school. I’m thankful I chose to take this elective and know that it will benefit me as I start residency soon.”