Culinary medicine bridges the gap between nutrition science and practical cooking skills, providing patients with the tools to make sustainable dietary changes to improve their health. Despite Canada's Dietary Guidelines emphasizing food skills, culinary medicine remains underutilized in healthcare. Evidence shows that integrating culinary interventions alongside nutrition care improves patients’ confidence and self-efficacy in adopting nutrition recommendations, supporting dietary behavior change and better health outcomes. Drawing on clinical research and practice examples from Alberta Health Services and other healthcare institutions leading the integration of culinary medicine into clinical care, this session offers a menu of practical strategies to adopt this approach in a range of practice settings. Attendees will explore culinary techniques to overcome common dietary barriers—enhancing vegetable taste, preparing budget-friendly meals, and crafting culturally relevant recipes. Participants will leave with practical skills and inspiration to integrate culinary medicine into their practice, improving patient outcomes and advancing sustainability in healthcare.
Catherine Chan is a Professor of Human Nutrition and Physiology at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include development and evaluation of interventions focused on health behaviours to improve outcomes in people with chronic metabolic diseases.