Student chefs prepare to present their healthy lunch at a Capitol Hill briefing on school food reform in March 2010

Cooking Up Change – A National Healthy Cooking Contest

The Cooking up Change contest challenges teams of high school and college students to create a healthful and delicious school meal that meets the Institute of Medicine nutrition standards, incorporates a local food item, draws from ingredients commonly available to food service, and can be easily prepared in a school kitchen.  Six teams of finalists, chosen from a national pool of applicants prepared their recipes in Detroit for a prestigious panel of judges. Winners take home a trophy and fabulous prizes; all finalists' delicious creations were served at a special conference lunch.

Changing the Future of School Food

This year, the stakes are even higher – for the young chefs and for the future of school food. As the student teams assembled ingredients and developed recipes, Congress began to consider the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the federal legislation that provides funding and guidelines for school meals.

The Act has the potential to create a future for school food in which all schools have the resources to provide meals as healthy and tasty as the award-winning lunches the students design.

The unique strength of Cooking up Change comes from its power to elevate a meal and a message created by students so that it reaches the plates of their peers nationwide and the elected leaders whose decisions about school food policy affect students’ health so directly.

Learn More about the Child Nutrition Act

To learn more, visit HSC's Child Nutrition Act Resource & Action Center.

Raise Your Voice

This reauthorization offers a tremendous opportunity to create a future for school food in which fresh, healthy meals are the norm and all children have access to the type of comprehensive nutrition education that creates healthy habits for a lifetime.

Please join us in taking action for a healthy reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.