Let’s being at the start. Amazing Master of Dietetics students from Monash University spent time with Health Futures Australia in early 2023 in central Victoria – engaging the community to design a Cooking School for Health and Wellbeing. They surveyed, insta polled, and ‘popped up’ in communities to listen – in schools and in libraries, in places where people spend their time. The students asked community members ‘how might a cooking school focussed on healthy seasonal food work and support you? How would you like it to run, when, and what experience do you want to have when you come to a healthy food focused school and classes?

So much insight emerged for us, and we heard several very clear messages – people want to be re-inspired to cook because cooking with others can be fun and it can warm the heart and ‘make me feel connected to something’. Healthy cooking classes are about healthy eating, and so much more. They are about social connection and the sense of belonging that comes from joining one of our amazing classes.

We have been running dozens of classes across five communities to test and learn even more about the value here. From Clunes to Daylesford and Trentham – with 8- to 13-year-olds, young people, and grown-ups – our classes have been sellouts and our communities want even more. Hand made pasta using local eggs and in-season veggie sauces has been a hit with children and adults alike. Children also make a family vegetable pasta bake to take home. Rice paper rolls, dumplings, healthy pizzas and snacks are strong menu features also.

Cooking Schools like this might well be one of those activities that have greatest impact in communities, especially to mental health and wellbeing and should not be underestimated for their powerful effect and the joy they bring communities.