Grantee Research Project Results
Culinary Home Empowerment for Food Waste Prevention and Minimization (CHEF-WPM)
EPA Grant Number: R840534Title: Culinary Home Empowerment for Food Waste Prevention and Minimization (CHEF-WPM)
Investigators: Deutsch, Jonathan , Milliron, Brandy-Joe
Institution: Drexel Univeristy
EPA Project Officer: Hoysala, Sneha
Project Period: April 1, 2023 through May 13, 2025
Project Amount: $739,381
RFA: Research to Reduce Consumer Food Waste in the United States Request for Applications (RFA) (2022) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Food Waste
Description:
This research investigates a highly innovative and scalable approach to strengthen consumer motivation, opportunity, and ability to reduce food waste by adapting professional culinary education interventions to the home kitchen.
Objective:
The objectives of this proposed research are to (1) develop and evaluate a series of food waste prevention and minimization culinary education videos for home cooks, adapted from professional culinary training, called Culinary Home Empowerment for Food Waste Prevention and Minimization (CHEF-WPM), (2) assess a series of informal and formal online interventions to determine the efficacy of each component of CHEF-WPM across a diverse range of U.S. consumers, and (3) recommend effective ways to nationally scale effective elements of CHEFWPM. The hypotheses being tested are (1) adapting and delivering selected elements of professional culinary training for home cooks is effective at reducing household food waste and strengthening consumer motivation, opportunity, and ability to reduce food waste, and (2) distributing selected elements of professional culinary training in small modules for home cooks and making the content available in structured community-based classes is desired by consumers.
Approach:
The project will develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a series of innovative food waste prevention and minimization culinary education videos (and supplementary materials) for home cooks. The videos will be developed by nationally renowned food preparers and food waste educators in collaboration with Drexel Food Lab. The community-based education session with 100 selected households will be comprised of 8 educational culinary videos designed to empower consumers by providing the motivation, knowledge, and skills to reduce household food waste throughout the process including meal planning, shopping, consuming, storing, and disposing. The project will measure the impacts of educational materials on food waste reduction at household and community levels and test national scalability and applicability.
Expected Results:
This research investigates a highly scalable solution to strengthen consumers motivation, opportunity, and ability to reduce food waste by adapting professional culinary education interventions to the home kitchen. This intended research supports Agency research priorities in providing consumers with motivation, opportunity, and ability to prevent and minimize food waste at the locus where most wasted food occurs.
Supplemental Keywords:
Sustainable development, waste minimization, pedagogy, kitchen literacy, human health, public health, diet, community-based, analysis, observation, survey, preferences, public good, and culinary.Progress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.