Defining Culinary Medicine: A Call for Consensus on Competencies to Improve Nutrition

Most premature adult deaths and chronic diseases, with their associated costs, are directly related to unhealthy behaviors, particularly poor nutrition. The 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health emphasized the importance of nutrition equity and security as a key to preventing chronic diseases. What and how we eat also have important environmental impacts, with 26% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the total food supply chain, primarily ultra-processed food (UPF) production. A new paradigm is needed to better educate patients and the public to adopt healthier eating behaviors. Culinary education, emphasizing skills such as shopping, food storage, and meal preparation is a burgeoning field, aimed at reducing UPF consumption and improving nutrition while addressing cultural and socioeconomic factors. The term Culinary Medicine (CM) is becoming popular in describing these interventions; however, a consensus on its definition has not yet been reached. There are no consensual curricular outlines and/or competencies, and the potential for addressing food security and equity has not yet been fully developed. We believe that consensual competencies will formalize CM and ensure appropriate outcomes followed by improved assessments of learners, thus promoting CM research and further implementation of this novel nutrition education approach.