Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Human Environmental Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Innovation

Advisor/Mentor

Buckley, Nancy

Committee Member/Reader

Wood, Lisa

Committee Member/Second Reader

Way, Kelly Ann

Abstract

Students preparing to be registered dietitians must learn and retain culinary skills and knowledge so they can use it in their future career. If dietitians’ nutritional knowledge is limited to medical situations, they cannot educate the public about planning and preparing healthy meals. The purpose of this study was to determine if a student’s history of cooking, shopping for groceries, and other background factors affect culinary skills and knowledge, and to determine the appropriate curriculum for undergraduate students to prepare them for their career as a dietitian. This study was in part a continuation of an assessment conducted by my mentor, Nancy Buckley titled, Culinary Competence: Skills and Knowledge Assessment for Dietetic Students. The instrument used to measure culinary skills and knowledge was the one Nancy Buckley constructed and validated for her study, and was developed from core competencies established by the Food and Culinary Professionals’ (FCP) Dietetic Practice Group (DPG). My study differs, due to COVID 19, in that a post-study could not be completed. This study utilized a culinary skills and knowledge assessment and a background factors survey both of which were given to students enrolled in the Principles of Food course and lab on the University of Arkansas Fayetteville campus. Thirty students of the 31 enrolled in the course completed all the assessments, and their data were subsequently analyzed. The average score from the 30 participants is (46.7 points ± 11.6 points). Students who did the majority or most of the cooking at home before they came to college received a mean score 14.1 points higher than students who did not. Students who did the majority or all of the buying of groceries before they came to college received a mean score 12.65 points higher than the students that did not. The results of this study indicated that students who did the majority or most of the cooking at home before they came to college and students who did the majority or all of the buying of groceries before they came to college received higher scores on their culinary skills and knowledge assessments.

Keywords

nutrition; food lab; background factors; culinary knowledge; culinary skills; future dietitians

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