Take a bite with VU’s CHEW community cooking & nutrition program

Over four weekly sessions, members from local organisations join final-year nutrition and dietetics students with a supervising dietician in our teaching kitchen and classroom space at Werribee Campus. 

In 2024, 26 VU students have taken part in the initiative, delivering the CHEW program to 55 community members, including groups from headspace, Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), Sunshine Special Development School, St Joseph’s Flexible Learning Centre and Interact Australia. 

Getting to know each other in a classroom in small groups of around 10, community member ‘clients’ tell students about nutrition topics they want to learn about; who, in return share valuable, tailored information about nutrition, reading labels, healthy food swaps, meal preparation and more.  

From there, it’s aprons on and into the teaching kitchen, which has eight workstations, where VU students guide community members through step-by-step recipes, for a fun and educational cooking session. Afterwards, participants and VU students enjoy a meal they’ve created together. 

For nutrition science student Zoe Donaldson, the highlight of the program was working in a team and understanding the needs of their client group to design a plan specifically for them. 

“We saw immediate appreciation through engagement and conversations with the clients. It really surprised me to see how well this client group did with food preparation and cooking, as well as their engagement and discussions within the education session,” Zoe said. 

Since taking part in the program, Zoe is now thinking about public health as a future career, and is considering doing a master’s degree, where she hopes to participate in similar activities.  

Phoenix Vilaysak, who is also a final-year Bachelor of Nutrition Science student, said he developed valuable skills in facilitation through the program, both in presentation delivery and in-person interactions. 

“We made sure the information was easy to digest and stayed straight to the point with the delivery,” Phoenix said. 

I believe keeping it casual yet professional is the best approach; it allows for individuals to not feel intimidated and creates a comfortable environment to ask questions and have conversations. By the second session, our clients were participating in discussions during the workshops and creating conversations during cooking time.” 

VU Community Partner Program Coordinator, Nutrition and Dietetics, Monica Wellington, said the program, which is now in its ninth year, is “a great way for students to practise being nutrition educators, in a safe environment. It’s fantastic watching them grow their confidence over the four weeks.” 

The next CHEW sessions will run in April 2025. If you’re interested in taking part, either as an individual or part of a community group, please email [email protected] . 

Healthy recipe ideas: Veggie pasta bake

Serves 6. 

Ingredients

• 220g pasta spirals, penne or fettuccini
• oil spray, as needed
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup light cream
• 2 handfuls grated light cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 100g baby spinach, chopped
• 2/3 of a (340g) tin corn kernels
• 2 grated carrots
• 1 handful grated light cheese, extra

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 
2. Lightly grease a large ovenproof dish.
3. Cook pasta in a large pot of water until almost cooked. Drain and rinse. Set aside.
4. Saute garlic and onion in oil spray in a large frypan until just beginning to brown. Add grated zucchini and saute, stirring till wilted. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine tomato, cream, grated cheese, parmesan, lemon zest and juice, spinach, corn, grated carrot, zucchini mix. Mix through pasta.
6. Transfer to prepared dish and level off. 
7. Sprinkle top with extra cheese.
8. Cover (either with a lid or with foil) and bake for 20 minutes. 
9. Remove lid and return oven for 5-10 minutes to brown cheese.
10. Enjoy!