2024 Teaching Kitchen Symposium

The 2024 Teaching Kitchen Symposium, hosted by the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (TKC) at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT

November 13-14, 2024

Overview

The inaugural Teaching Kitchen Symposium is designed for professionals across disciplines who are dedicated to advancing hands-on approaches to nutrition education and behavior change in teaching kitchen settings. Hosted by the University of Utah, a TKC Organization Member, this two-day continuing education event will feature a diverse lineup of expert speakers, invaluable networking opportunities, and engagement with local community and industry partners.

Participants will benefit from presentations, panel discussions, and interactive breakout sessions, gaining actionable insights on topics such as: leveraging community partnerships; the role of teaching kitchens within the broader Food is Medicine movement; incorporating mindfulness, movement and other lifestyle practices; elevating environmental sustainability; integrating technology for virtual or hybrid programs; exploring funding models that work; bringing cultural humility to the kitchen; evaluating your program; and more!

The full detailed program schedule will be made available mid-late August. For more information, visit the Symposium website.

Why Attend? Here are four compelling reasons:

Elevate Your Practice: Gain valuable insights, practical solutions, and actionable tools from top experts and thought-leaders that will help you envision or elevate your teaching kitchen program and benefit the communities you serve. Attend dynamic educational sessions to learn about leveraging your local food ecosystem, building an interprofessional team, effective teaching tools for individuals at all ages and stages, advocacy, how to add your data to the growing field of teaching kitchen research, and how to sell your teaching kitchen program or proposal to funders and stakeholders. Regardless of your experience level or practice setting, you will have the opportunity to engage with pioneers in nutrition, culinary medicine, and lifestyle medicine, and contribute to the advancement of whole person health and healthcare.

Cultivate Your Network: Engage with a diverse group of professionals–chefs, healthcare practitioners, educators, community leaders, researchers, and industry partners. Build valuable relationships to support your professional growth, exchange best practices, and foster interdisciplinary collaborative projects. Remember, you are part of a vibrant community of professionals committed to making a difference and there’s no substitute for the value of in-person interactions. Leverage the strength of these positive social connections to inspire and energize your work!

Experience Teaching Kitchen Innovation in Action at the University of Utah: Experience firsthand a variety of culinary medicine programs and teaching kitchen facilities within the University of Utah’s academic and health systems. Learn how they leverage partnerships with community organizations in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area to benefit all parties and further engage stakeholders. Explore practical applications of bridging the gaps between communities and healthcare that you can implement in your own community.

Sharpen Your Skills: Hone your culinary skills and teaching techniques during an optional 4-hour pre-Symposium workshop led by top TKC facilitators and culinary faculty at Salt Lake Culinary Education’s beautiful teaching kitchen facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The Symposium will feature some interactive elements but this workshop is your best chance to get hands-on in the kitchen and boost your confidence in developing and delivering high-impact and fun teaching kitchen and culinary medicine experiences for diverse audiences. Space is limited to 65 so reserve your spot today!

Learning Objectives:

After participating in the Symposium, attendees will be able to:

• Summarize how teaching kitchen programs play a critical role in the growing Food is Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine, and Whole Person Health movements.
• Recognize opportunities to leverage teaching kitchens and local food ecosystems to bridge the gap between communities and healthcare.
• Develop strategies for approaching and engaging potential stakeholders and funders.
• Acquire language and skills for creating culturally responsive and inclusive teaching kitchen programming and environments that cater to diverse learners and advance health equity.
• Identify practical approaches for improving teaching kitchen programs by incorporating environmental sustainability, enhancing technology integration for virtual learning, adapting curricula for diverse audiences, refining data tracking, and other key areas to boost operations, attendee engagement, reach, funding prospects, and overall impact.