Young Culinary Masters’ programs are targeted towards children of different age groups in underserved communities. The goal of these programs is to provide nutrition education through workshops and seminars. YCM’s innovative and hands-on approaches to teaching enable participants to interact with some of New York City’s highly recognized nutritionists/dieticians, chefs, restaurateurs and other food experts. Through six-week programs, participants gain extensive knowledge and experience in the principles of cooking healthy meals, food preparation and food safety. Alternatively, there are programs to assist adults in adapting to healthy lifestyles as well, including Healthy Moms/Healthy Babies, Health Epidemics and Healthy Community.

Summer Programs
Adolescents

Focused on adolescents 13 through 17 years of age, this six-week summer session promotes healthy eating habits through education, cooking techniques and competitive activities. This program transforms these adolescents into more conscious eaters and more autonomous consumers as they will be capable of preparing their own meals.

Young Adults
Focused on young adults 18 through 21 years of age, this six-week summer session provides nutrition education, food preparation skills, and internship and job opportunities to these youngsters in an attempt to build a foundation of knowledge, skills and experience in preparation for their apprenticeship and beyond. This program will introduce these young participants to a new but life-changing activity, which not only promotes a healthier lifestyle but also provides opportunities that foster interest in a new career path - the culinary arts.

Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies
This workshop emphasizes the importance of establishing healthy nutrition habits as early as possible in pregnant women, new mothers, and infants. By ensuring early and consistent prenatal care for women throughout their pregnancy, providing nutrition education (including tips on selecting the best foods to create a healthy mom and health baby) as well as “quick and easy” cooking tools for pregnant women and new mothers, Young Culinary Masters hopes to reduce the rate of childhood obesity and infant mortality among the underprivileged.

Health Epidemics
This workshop focuses on the major health risks which continue to plague the underserved constituency—more importantly, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure—and provides nutrition solutions to tackle these growing epidemics. Participants learn to recognize and avoid the types of food which have adverse effects on their health and the best way of incorporating healthier food into their diets. Also, participants learn how to prepare their favorite dishes to protect themselves and their families from succumbing to these rising epidemics. Furthermore, the workshop provides recipes for cutting back on saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, while maintaining great taste.

Healthy Community
This workshop discusses nutrition education to anyone who is looking to acquire a healthier lifestyle. It is never too late to change one’s eating habits. This workshop discusses the benefits of a healthy diet, provides some general guidelines for healthy eating, and recommends diets tailored to women, seniors and even overweight individuals. And of course, it also shows participants how to prepare healthy meals and shop wiser to suit their budget.