Uruguay Kitchen Program

Uruguay Kitchen Program - © City of Montevideo

Uruguay Kitchen Program - ©City of Montevideo

Status

ongoing

City

Montevideo

Main actors

City Government, Community / Citizen Group

Project area

Whole City/Administrative Region

Duration

Ongoing since 2016

A food education program that promotes good health and wellbeing through citizen participation.

The Municipality of Montevideo through the Secretariat of Education for Citizenship operates the food education program ‘Cocina Uruguay’ (Uruguay Kitchen Program). The program acknowledges a citizen’s right to good health and wellbeing by providing free classes in food education.

The Uruguay Kitchen Program is available to all residents of the city and the surrounding metropolitan area and is serviced by a mobile unit equipped with a kitchen designed for teaching. Additionally, there is a fixed classroom located in the Agricultural Market of Montevideo.

The program seeks to promote healthy food preparation and consumption using seasonal and low-cost food. Emphasis is placed on nutritional aspects that encourage healthy eating, attitudes and practices. The program has a gender and human rights focus.

For further information about the case study, click here.

Sustainable Development Goals

City information

City

Montevideo, Uruguay

Size and population development

According to the 2011 census the city of Montevideo has a population of 1,319,109 (approximately one third of Uruguay’s population). The city covers an area of 201km2 with a population density of 6,726 people per km2.

Population composition

53% of the population are female and 47% male. Church and state are officially separate in Uruguay. Roman Catholic is the religion with the most followers. Other faiths include Protestant, Umbanda, Judaism and people who identify as Atheists and Agnostics. The city has a large number of European immigrants especially Spanish and Italian.

Main functions

Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay and the southernmost capital city in the Americas. The city is situated on the southern coast of Uruguay on the north-eastern bank of the Rio de la Plata with an average elevation of 43 metres.

Main industries / business

As the capital city of Uruguay, Montevideo is the economic, political and cultural centre of the country. The Port of Montevideo is one of the major ports of South America and plays a significant role in the city’s economy. Aside from trade, finance, tourism, media and education are large industry sectors.

Sources for city budget

The City of Montevideo draws its budget for public expenditure largely from property tax, fees, fines, operating revenues, other taxes and subsides from the Government of Uruguay.

Political structure

Governance is shared by the city government and the Parliament of Montevideo adhering to a decentralised political structure to enhance democratic participation.

Administrative structure

Since 2010 the city of Montevideo has been divided into 8 political municipalities referred with the letters from A-G, including CH. Each municipality is presided over by a mayor who is elected by the citizens. The city has 62 barrios, each barrio has its own identity and geographic location.

Website

http://www.montevideo.gub.uy/

Background and objectives

The City of Montevideo has adapted the Brazil Kitchen Program launched in 2005 by the National Council of Social Service of the Brazilian Industry (SESI) and the Ministry of Development Social of Brazil, to their local food culture.

According to the most recent national figures released by the Ministry of Public Health, for every ten adults aged between 25 and 64 years, four are overweight and three are obese. Additionally, four out of ten young people between 15 and 24 years are overweight and obese, this statistic is also linked to an increase in hypertension at very early ages. Moreover, according to the Survey on Nutrition, Child Development and Health, 12.6% of children under six years of age are overweight. One of the main causes of obesity in Uruguay (and in the rest of the world), is that homemade and nutritional foods are being replaced by processed foods that are high in sugars, fats and salt.

Uruguay has its own food-based dietary guidelines, which provide standards for food consumption in both quantity and quality and sets recommendations for physical activity for different age groups.

The specific objectives of the program are:

Promote and stimulate educational actions regarding the preparation and consumption of food with emphasis on nutritional aspects. The objective is to encourage improvements in eating habits, to promote food culture and improve the health and wellbeing of the entire population, especially the most vulnerable groups
Modify eating habits and consumption by developing skills in food preparation and knowledge of healthy foods, using non processed and low-cost seasonal products.
Provide food education training for citizens to develop knowledge and skills that strengthen the confidence to choose and prepare food, thus achieving good health and well-being, particularly among the most vulnerable groups.

Implementation

The methodology of the Uruguay Kitchen program is based on the realization of a theoretical and practical course through workshops organized in its different classrooms or units. The workshops have a duration of four days totaling 10 hours and are taught by nutritionists and cooks. The Mobile Unit is equipped with a kitchen and a pedagogical classroom for 35 participants, which moves to different areas. The course is aimed at people over 12 years of age. In 2016, the program expanded and opened its second classroom in the Agricultural Market of Montevideo, making it possible to reach more people and including new working methodologies.

The application process:

In a first step, local institutions send a request to the Uruguay Kitchen Program for of workshop to be conducted in their territory. After that, a preliminary meeting is organized in the locality with representatives of the community center or with employees from the municipality. In this way, the mobile unit adapts to the local conditions where the workshops are organized.

Financing and resources

The lead agency for the project is the Secretariat of Education for Citizenship, with funding from the Municipality of Montevideo. Additionally, agreements are made with different organizations and businesses for the acquisition of food supplies.

Results and impacts

At the end of the training program, participants are asked to participate in an evaluation/survey of the course. This assesses their specific knowledge of food nutrition and records any changes in food attitudes and consumption.

Participants were asked to evaluate the following aspects of the course:

knowledge and teaching mastery.
the physical space where the course is held.
participant expectations regarding the course.
promotion and registration.

A high percentage, 97.1%, of people who participated in the course stated that it met their expectations.

Another aspect of the program that is evaluated compares the participants attitude in relation to food planning. In the first edition of the program in 2016, at the beginning of the course 59% stated that they regularly planned their meals, and at the completion of the course 99% indicated that the information given during the course will help them to better plan their meals.

The main changes acquired were:

consume more fruits and vegetables (25%)
calculate the necessary portions (15%)
improve eating habits at breakfast (7%)
eat healthier (7%)
plan meals (6%)
eat less fried foods (5%)
combine food groups (5%).

Barriers and challenges

Have the logistic requirements for the installation of the mobile unit in the territory.
In the fixed classroom located in the Agricultural Market of Montevideo, the course numbers must be increased to cover the growing demand.
Although more than half of the participants consider that the promotion of the classes was good (72.8%), it is planned to improve this aspect in collaboration with the municipalities and their community zonal centers.

Lessons learned and transferability

Since 2017, the program has been extended to the departments (uruguayan territorial circunscriptions) of San José and Canelones, with courses and workshops in different cities of the country, for example, Libertad, Ciudad del Plata, Villa Rodríguez and Las Piedras.

References