Collective kitchens make for healthier eating - National Collective Kitchen Day - March 2005

Montreal - March 16 2005 - On the occasion of Quebec's Collective Kitchen Day, the Association of Collective Kitchens of Quebec, along with the 1,330 collective kitchens in the province, are heartened by the results of a Canadian study on the beneficial health effects of collective kitchens.

The study, undertaken in the Calgary area, shows, among other things, that 73 per cent of participants improved their quality of life and that 81 per cent estimate that they learned to feed their families with healthier food. In addition, the proportion of participants who consumed at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day increased from 29 per cent to 47 per cent after they joined a collective kitchen. The reasons cited most commonly for joining a collective kitchen are social interaction and support.

This year, as a concrete way to encourage participants to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption from organically-grown, local sources, the RCCQ and Équiterre are working together to pair up collective kitchens with farms from the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) network.

A collective kitchen is a group of five or six people wishing to eat healthfully and wanting a better quality of life. Participants meet to determine what dishes they will prepare. With the help of circulars, they choose recipes and they divide the shopping list among themselves, then together they cook the dishes and take portions of what they have cooked home with them.

But a collective kitchen is more than cooking. It is an opportunity for people to get out of the house, to meet people, to make friends and meet acquaintances as well as to cook up economical dishes - all in a pleasant atmosphere.

Collective kitchens are practical and beneficial - and there are kitchens for every taste and need: traditional, multi-ethnic, vegetarian, baby food, health-related kitchens for people on special diets, say for diabetes or high cholesterol., as well as lean cuisine for people wishing to lose weight. Collective kitchens are for everyone: children and teens, women and men, older people and people with disabilities.

To learn about activities organized in your community for Collective Kitchen Day, contact the collective kitchen nearest you, or communicate with the Association of Collective Kitchens of Quebec for details or to learn how to start a collective kitchen. Phone (514) 529-3448 or 1 (866) 529-3448. Or visit the association's Web site at www.rccq.org

To evaluate the effects of collective kitchen programs of the Calgary Health Region on various determinants of health, questionnaires were mailed to participants (n=331) and co-ordinators (n=58) of collective kitchens. Altogether, 79 collective kitchen members (24 per cent) and 26 co-ordinators (45 per cent) responded. Three incomplete questionnaires were eliminated. Among members who indicated their family income (n=61), 61 per cent had incomes below the low-income cut-off. The program improved the quality of life of 58 members (73 per cent) and 64 members (81 per cent) responded that they had learned to feed their families with more healthful foods. Members kept track of how many fruits and vegetables they had eaten before and since joining a collective kitchen and the proportion of those who ate at least five portions of fruits and vegetables daily increased from 29 per cent to 47 per cent. The reasons given most commonly for joining such a program had to do with social interaction and support. More than 90 per cent of co-ordinators said they considered themselves capable of co-ordinating a collective kitchen. The results showed that the collective kitchen program can have an impact on several determinants of health and can improve the capacity of members to improve their nutritional health. (Can.J Diet Preact Res 2004;65;72-80)

1. Revue canadienne de la pratique et de la recherche en diététique, Vol. 65, no 2, p. 72-80, 2004. Evaluation of collective kitchens program, using the population health promotion model, Tarra J. Fano; Sheila M. Tyminski, RD; Mary A.T. Flynn, PhD, RD, RPH Nutr. Health promotion and disease prevention, Nutrition and active living Calgary Health Region, Calgary, AB