Veterans learn basic cooking skills for better health

That was Dunn’s initial reaction when he realized a protein yogurt parfait was the recipe he would prepare in the Healthy Teaching Kitchen class in the Milwaukee VA Domiciliary.

But by the end of the class, he was licking clean his spoon.

“This tastes like ice cream!” he said.

And that brought a smile to the face of dietitian Elizabeth Martin.

“I feel good that we can hopefully challenge some people’s individual perception of a certain food that they might not have even tried,” said Martin. “We can show them that they can be prepared in a healthy way and enjoyable to eat.

“I thought that was wonderful to see someone who was completely not for it and then just afterward, loved it,” she said. “I hope we can continue to do that.”

Making healthy — and tasty — meals on a budget is the goal of the new six-week cooking class, which also aims to improve the overall wellness of Domiciliary Veterans, many of whom are struggling with addiction or other challenges.

“The population within the Dom really needs the most hands-on experience to reconnect to those basic cooking skills,” Martin said. “The class is designed to be very approachable and as simple as possible.”

Martin said a significant part of healthy eating involves preparing your own meals using nutritious ingredients. That can be challenging when a Veteran is struggling to meet basic needs because of illness or food insecurity due to employment issues.

So the class uses simple recipes with ingredients that could be found at a food pantry or are low-cost at a grocery store.

“For me, it’s not only important to be able teach those basic (cooking) skills, but also …  how to create a meal that is going to be nutritionally dense and still be delicious when you only have a few dollars in your pocket,” Martin said.

Food insecurity also exacerbates other health issues and can lead to difficult decisions, like choosing between food, bills or transportation costs.

In addition, preparing their own meals gives Veterans the ability to build better eating habits and improve overall wellness.

“There is such a large connection between good nutrition and mental health,” Martin said. “We want to show Veterans that the connection really does exist, and it doesn't have to be difficult to improve.

“These skills hopefully will increase the number of meals they're preparing for themselves instead of depending on convenience food items, fast food or delivery.”

Martin said she wants Veterans to look at food not as just, “What am I eating?” but challenge themselves to think of, “What is this food doing for me and my health?”

Having something to eat at the end of the class contributes to the positive comments Martin said she hears frequently, noting that participants were “ranting and raving about how good it was,” she said.

“The class was interesting,” said U.S. Marine Veteran Marvin Seegert. “There was some useful information about measuring, reading labels and how to make ingredient substitutions.”

“I like to do things my own way,” said U.S. Army Veteran Peter Ruskiewicz. “I spent years cooking for my family and making it the way they liked it. Now I just need to cook for myself.”

Ruskiewicz gave the thumbs-up when asked how his finished parfait tasted. 

In keeping with the consensus of the class opinion, Seegert said, “The best part of this class is that it’s really delicious!”

Martin said she would like to see the basic cooking skills program in VA expand.

Her hope for Veterans is that no matter what situation they are in, no matter what skill level they are at, good nutrition can be attained, even when they feel they are at rock bottom.