Peer Educators Are The Secret Sauce in New Recipe Development and Testing
The adage “Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime,” couldn’t be truer when it comes to healthy eating. A recent research article shared in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior highlights the important impact that peer educators can offer through a hybrid-home use testing model.
Cooking and recipe demonstrations inspire healthy eating habits and inclusion of unfamiliar foods to class participants. Sensory assessments about the appearance, smell, taste, texture, and flavor of food are all part of recipe development.
While the gold standard for assessment is in a controlled lab setting for consistent prep and presentation of food, it is difficult to get peer educators to a primary location due to constraints in time and money.
According to corresponding author Ginnefer O. Cox, Ph.D., RD, Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Georgia, explained, "Peer educators are key stakeholders in the recipe development process because of their close relationship with the community and their hands-on involvement with recipe demonstrations."
In this study, 40 peer educators agreed to select from eight recipes to prep and serve over four weeks. Detailed recipes and non-perishable ingredients were provided while they shopped for perishable ingredients themselves.
Subjects completed two surveys per recipe and made the recipe after the initial survey. The initial survey inquired about their perceived acceptance of the recipe title, appearance, taste, texture, and chance that the peer educators would make the recipe at home or use it as a food demonstration for Food Talk.
Food Talk is a direct, evidence-based initiative of the University of Georgia using the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and SNAP-Ed curriculum to assist individuals in making nutrition-related decisions.
Additional questions from the presurvey included how Food Talk attendees may think about these recipes based on the peer educator's experience with participants and the likelihood that participants would make the recipes at home.
After making the recipe, the post-survey assessed similar questions after the peer educator had tasted the finished recipe.
No significant differences in overall liking or preparation acceptance from the presurvey to post survey responses were observed in the study.
The initial presurvey responses offered valuable insights into the thoughts regarding a recipe before making and tasting it. In addition, post survey comments gleaned specific modifications to modify ingredients to a specific culture, improve the preparation or cooking time, or make the title more explanatory.
Dr. Cox concluded, "The use of presurvey and post survey questions of acceptance toward unfamiliar recipes offers an underexplored method of evaluating recipes in the community nutrition setting. Our research may indicate that an online process can be used to predict recipe performance without formal testing at a central location."
Here are tips for conducting food demos and writing recipes:
Survey potential participants on which recipes they’d like to try.
Use vegetarian recipes to reduce cost and food safety concerns with raw meat.
Keep it simple. Use ingredients that are not hard to find or expensive to buy.
Write out your ingredients in the order they’ll be used in the recipe.
Be clear in your instructions. There is a difference between a “cup of chopped onions” and “1 cup of chopped onions.”
Offer substitutes in the recipe. Oregano may be subbed for marjoram, or cinnamon may be subbed for pumpkin spice.
Provide serving sizes at the end so users know how much food a recipe will create.
Offer cooking demos online through Zoom or other platforms so bad weather or illness won’t keep people from participating.
Be sure to wear gloves and pull your hair back when cooking for others.
Ask participants for feedback on recipes. What did they like and what would they change?
Lisa Andrews, MEd, RD, LD
1. Melanie K. Ng, Koushik Adhikari, Elizabeth L. Andress, Sarah T. Henes, Jung Sun Lee, Ginnefer O. Cox. Sensory-Informed Evaluation Method for Use With Peer Educators of Nutrition Education Programs. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2023; 55 (11): 786 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2023.07.011