Lights, Camera, Vegetables! Iowa State dietetics’ students create cooking videos for Iowa’s youth

AMES, Iowa – Under the bright lights of a demonstration kitchen teaching lab in Iowa State’s Food Science building, Amos Barrios-Munoz carefully slices a cucumber while talking into a camera. 

“Remember to use the bear-claw technique to protect your fingers,” he shares.

“Cucumbers are a great source of vitamin K. This is important for keeping our bones healthy,” says Sydney Nordness.

Both seniors in dietetics, Barrios-Munoz and Nordness are working on a class project to create cooking school videos for kids in Iowa.

“Research shows that when kids get involved with cooking, they’re much more willing to try the foods they make,” said Food Science and Human Nutrition Clinical Associate Professor, Maren Wolff.

Wolff has partnered with Iowa State Extension and Outreach on various research-based projects related to cooking and nutrition for several years. The fall 2024 semester brought an opportunity to put research into action by integrating the creation of cooking school videos into her course, Nutrition Counseling and Education Methods.

“This area of dietetics practice in healthcare is growing. Hospitals are putting in teaching kitchens where patients learn how to prepare meals for disease prevention or as treatment for chronic disease,” Wolff said. “Knowing how to share nutrition knowledge by video is also something students can incorporate into their practice or small business.”

Her students agree.

“In our classes, we talk about things like vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants. We use those big science words and we know what they mean,” said Nordness. “But, this project taught us the importance of not overwhelming people with information. We thought about what words to use in the script that would resonate with a younger audience.”

“This will be shown to kids and it’s really important they learn how easy it can be,” said Barrios-Munoz. “Making cooking and learning about nutrition easy and fun can have a domino effect from the kids to the older siblings, to the parents and even grandparents.”

Iowa State Extension and Outreach Healthy Living Specialist, Sally Shaver DuBois, leads multiple programs related to healthy living. The first round of recipe videos created by the students in Wolff’s course are now part of Clover Power Cooking School through ISU Extension and 4-H Youth Development’s Healthy Living programming.

“The ultimate goal is to have healthier kids in Iowa,” said Shaver DuBois. “These are simple recipes from our Spend Smart Eat Smart program that will be used for outreach in schools and 4-H clubs.”

Wolff and Shaver DuBois plan to continue giving Iowa State students the opportunity to put their knowledge to practice and help create a healthier future for Iowa youth through this real-world learning application.

Clover Power Cooking School – Vegetable Dip

Amos Barrios-Munoz and Sydney Nordness, both seniors in dietetics, completed a video project aimed at children in Iowa. Videos are part of ISU Extension and Outreach 4-H Youth Development programming. The full lineup of Clover Power Cooking School videos, created by Iowa State dietetics students, can be found online.