Grant Award

Food Security Lab PhD students, Lauren Bell and Madilyn Bradley, were awarded a $5,000 grant to support their proposed project, CHEFS: Culinary and Healthy Education for Fueling Students, at the inaugural Social Impact Challenge from the Moritz Center for Societal Impact in the School of Social Work.

In partnership with UT Outpost, the C.H.E.F.S. program is a 5-week bootcamp of hands-on cooking classes that treat culinary skills as an essential art form. To ensure the skills taught are immediately relevant, our classes are strategically coordinated with the produce available from the Outpost pantry each week. Primarily serving food insecure students, our budget provides essential kitchen tools, complementary foods to build complete meals, and professional nutritional education materials. C.H.E.F.S. trains students in practical techniques including: safe preparation, food storage, use of kitchen appliances, and budget-friendly meal prep. Led by dietetic interns from the UT Integrated Dietetics and Coordinated Program in Dietetics, our peer-to-peer model provides not just skills, but the confidence to transform any ingredients into a nourishing meal.

Goals:
1. Students will learn foundational culinary arts skills.
2. Students will reframe cooking as a tool for creative expression and stress reduction.
3. Students will foster a stronger sense of community and cultural connection through food.