Green Capital / bristol green capital
Green Capital 2015 :Kitchen on prescription
Kitchen on Prescription (KOP) is an innovative health and well being project funded by Bristol 2015.
Lila Guha discovers how it offers patients with long-term health conditions access to community kitchens and nutritional advice.
Kitchen on Prescription is working closely with GPs in Bristol to put in place a referral service for patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes.
Ultimately the objective of the initiative is to teach people how to cook from scratch good, healthy and affordable meals
is needed now More than ever
With the help of nutritionists, culinary experts and psychologists, patients learn new skills to enable them to change their behaviour and attitude towards food in order to improve their well being and hopefully their health in a sustainable manner.
Liz McCarthy, Project Manager of Kitchen on Prescription
Project manager, Liz McCarthy explains: “Initially, the initiative organised cooking lessons for people suffering from mental stress or mental conditions. It now targets anyone who suffers from a chronic illness.”
Nutritionists and culinary experts help participants understand the importance of eating a healthy diet and also offers them practical cooking skills.
Psychologists also work with patients to look at the psychological and practical barriers that stop them from eating a healthy diet, and help them introduce long lasting behavioural changes.
“Focusing on nutrition is key to achieving good health,” says Liz.
This year Kitchen on Prescription is running two pilot projects as part of its strategic grant funding from Bristol 2015.
The first will take place the Greenway Community Centre in Southmead this May, and is for people suffering from diabetes or other chronic illnesses.
The workshops will run for 6 weeks and cater for 10-15 participants.
The second pilot project will run for 10 weeks in partnership with the University of Bristol in September.
This project will be for families and involves 10 academics from the university who work on child obesity.
Liz MaCarthy told Bristol 2015 about the two pilot projects: “There’s been a lot of interest in the initiative from a variety of people in different areas of decision-making”.
“Ultimately, the objective of the initiative is to teach people how to cook from scratch good, healthy and affordable meals.”