These are strange times for all of us as measures are taken around the world to reduce the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The level of upheaval in our lives is unprecedented. No one knows what to do and as a school in the health field, it can be tricky to know how we can be most helpful.

Ultimately we will continue to do what we do – provide resources to fulfill on the urgent need to empower those around us with ways to best care for their health and that of their family. We are bearing witness to the impacts of this pandemic, and cannot ignore the essential part of the conversation that health-supportive cooking has become. Around the world people are at home, preparing all of their own meals and snacks, learning how to use what’s on hand, and realizing how daily habits affect our physical and mental health.

Most of the businesses our graduates operate involve direct interaction within their communities. It’s been remarkable and inspiring to see how their resilience and creativity has kicked in as they put their skills to use in the ways they are needed right now.

Our Culinary Nutrition Expert Program graduates are still putting their skills to work, whether in the home or virtually with their online communities, to share how to cook food that supports health. And this is something we all need now more than ever! Hand washing matters, but it’s not getting to the root of our immune health and resiliency. That begins in the kitchen and we’re all spending a lot of time hanging at home these days so let’s get cooking.

We’re all in this together.

How Culinary Nutrition Experts Are Using Their Skills RIGHT NOW

Name: Emily Roach

Location: Needham, MA

Class Of: 2016

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I’ve stepped up doing Facebook and Instagram Lives to bring more people into my teaching kitchen. With the kids home, they are going to start joining me and create some kid-friendly and culinary nutrition-friendly cooking classes. In addition to cooking demos, I’m sharing new resources to connect with local food sources outside of the typical grocery store.

Name: Ivette Lagunes Lakatos

Location: Mexico City, MX

Class Of: 2016

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I have three kids – 10, 6, and 6. My kids have always been involved in the kitchen. They help me with easy tasks. They love to make juices, smoothies, eggs, cakes, and energy snacks. Now that we have more time at home, we spend it together in the kitchen. We started making IGTV videos so other families can have fun in the kitchen with their kids along with us. We have to trust our kids; they can do so much on their own. It is important to supervise and be there, but we have to let them learn new skills and let them mess it up. I am trying to work on more online courses so I can reach more kids and parents.

Name: Daniela Val

Location: Evanston, IL

Class Of: 2016

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I sent out an email to my newsletter mailing list with a free Immune Boosting Meal Plan + recipes. I have also been offering some yoga classes to my students virtually. As for my family, I have been busy in the kitchen making sure we have lots of nutrient-dense, plant-based meals readily available. I have also been using the time to practice some of the skills and recipes I learned in the recent Everyday Herbal course I took with Josh and Meghan.

Name: Alison Burke

Location: Toronto, ON

Class Of: 2019

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I have started teaching online workshops for kids and families via Instagram. My kids are my super helpers and videographers. It’s a fun activity for us and I am so happy to be teaching kids (and parents), helping them break up their days, and get some healthy food in their tummies. The feedback so far has been positive. I’m no Meghan…but I’m learning! At one point during the first show,  my son dropped the measuring spoons and I knocked over the maple syrup. Gotta LOL!

Name: Marla Evans

Location: Amarillo, TX

Class Of: 2017

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

Even though this is a health crisis, not a natural disaster, I’m taking the time to experiment with dehydrating foods to have on hand should we ever be without electricity for cooking or the fridge. I already have powdered bone broth I get from the store but it has none of the usual broth seasonings so I’m playing around with dehydrating the veggies to make my own soup mix. On the professional front, I’m running a Real Food Reset in my Facebook group. Now, more than ever, it’s important we focus on clean eating but it’s so easy for those processed foods to sneak back into our diet! That’s what the Reset is all about; getting back to eating real, whole, nourishing, immune-boosting food.

Name: Suzy Larsen

Location: Kelowna, BC

Class Of: 2016

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

In many ways, self-isolating has been a godsend to our family. Now more than ever, we have ample time to play board games like Ms. Monopoly and Yahtze, listen to music, walk, cook, take care of overdue projects and just talk. As a student of Everyday Culinary Nutrition, I’m making every recipe that Meghan presents in her videos plus creating more of my own. Coco, my daughter, is right there with me! We also have more time to film Cooking with Coco videos that we usually only have time for in the summer.

Name: Andrea Schroder

Location: Edmonton, AB

Class Of: 2019

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I am using my culinary nutrition skills to boost my immunity and eating as many plants as I can! And using what I have in my pantry, I’ve made gluten-free tortillas, stir-fried veggies, marinara sauce, homemade mustard, and Socca bread topped with blackberries, kale, cucumber, with a hefty dose of ginger and lemon. I did a quick Facebook live video, for the first time ever, showcasing this creation. So tasty!

Name: Gayle Davies

Location: Sydney, AUS

Class Of: 2019

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

During this time, I’ve ramped up the healing foods. I use bone broth in most of my cooking, be it pasta or rice, or soup. There is fresh turmeric growing in my garden (which is my first harvest!) and I grate it in a lot of my dishes. Fresh herbs are also a constant now especially coriander and parsley with their ability to draw out toxins from our bodies. Clean, filtered water, making elderberry syrup, increasing our garlic and onion intake, making, eating and drinking fermented foods…these are some of the things that I do to help my family keep our immune systems robust. We also do yoga, meditate, do online exercise classes, get outdoors, etc. to keep our minds and bodies active.

I have just launched a new website, so have written an article about how to boost the immune system naturally. I have shared this with my family and friends. The website also has healing recipes and information about the nutritional and medicinal value of the ingredients.

Name: Hui Chii Lau

Location: New South Wales, Australia

Class Of: 2019

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I love how CNE program trained me to be so flexible with whatever ingredients I have on hand. I went barefoot to my backyard and harvested ingredients for a superlicious homemade pesto. I used to not like kale, but, after CNE program, I fell in love with it. It became a staple in our family now. One of my girls said, “Mum, quick write down your recipe, so yummy, oh the flavour is so rich!”

Name: Cindy Spratt

Location: Ymir, BC

Class Of: 2015

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I’m super excited to offer my first online Kids Cooking Class right to your kitchen! It’s a week long class, modified from my in-person Kids Cooking Camp, and is a super fun and engaging way to give kids something creative and learning-oriented to look forward to for an entire week. Each day will include: following along online and creating a few recipes at home, discussion about real food choices, healthy nutrition, and positive food habits, and tasting our meal creations together!

Name: Amy Stoddart

Location: Toronto, ON

Class Of: 2016

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I’ve started a Facebook Group called How to Cook Right Now to help families and individuals navigate their way through cooking and create calm in their kitchens during this unique time of social isolation and quarantine.

Name: Monique Costello

Location: Chicago, IL

Class Of: 2014

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I have a Facebook Group called Happy Eats Healthy With Monique. I cook live EVERY day, helping people navigate their kitchens to nourish themselves. Anyone is welcome to join this community that talks about recipe making, energy driving, sleep inducing, stress managing, immune boosting, self-care projects that are going to help you stay calm and well fit in the face of adversity.

Name: Dawn Beeslaar

Location: Durban, South Africa

Class Of: 2018

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

Thanks to the Culinary Nutrition Expert training my meal prepping and kitchen skills are such that it has been 6 days of lockdown and we have zero need to do any grocery shopping. In fact, I think we may be able to do the full 21 days without leaving the house. (No panic buying required – just good planning). My family keep asking “Are you sure there isn’t ANYTHING we need to get?” They’re getting a bit of cabin fever and are desperately hoping we run out of something/anything.

Name: Jillian Parkhurst

Location: Santa Fe, NM

Class Of: 2015

How I’m Helping During the Coronavirus:

I’ve been doing Facebook Lives in my private community and I intend to start a group coaching program. I also created an immune-supportive resource post.

More Handy Cooking Tips During Times Of Social Distancing

• 12 Family-Friendly Recipes to Cook Together
• Stocking a Culinary Nutrition Pantry
• 32 Best Healthy Comfort Food Dinners
• 20 Best Gluten-Free Bread Recipes
• 20 Healing Herbs for Tea + Recipes
• What to Eat When You’re Sick: Simple, Immune-Boosting Recipes
• 8 Packaged Staples You Can Easily Make From Scratch
• Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Lifestyle Guide
• How To Get Started With Healthier Cooking
• Healthy Batch Cooking Guide 101
• How to Make Nut and Seed Milk
• Culinary Nutrition Guide to Broths and Stocks