Parents said about the Kitchen Adventure
The meals
“The meals are really great!”
We liked
“We liked the instructions and the warm-up games”
Fun
“It was inspiring and fun”
My child
“My child is a bit shy so it was great we did not have to switch on the camera, this way he was enjoying it and was fully engaged”
First time
“My meat-eating family tried out plant-based foods for the first time!”
About the project
The Kitchen Adventure is an initiative funded by EIT Food, in the frame of the Proof of Concept Societal Impact Call. The project lasted for 6 months in 2023.
The project started with a simple yet powerful idea: by blending culinary experiences, education, and family bonding, we can inspire positive behavior change that benefits both individuals and the environment.
Our mission is clear: to foster a world where cooking isn’t just a chore but an exciting adventure. We’re committed to promoting healthier dietary choices, fostering sustainability, and strengthening family bonds. We believe that making informed choices about what we eat is key to a brighter and more sustainable future.
Meet the Team
Our diverse and passionate team brings together a wealth of experience and
expertise in areas such as nutrition, sustainability, education, and culinary arts.
Viktoria Soos
psychologist and sustainability communication expert, Climate Smart Elephant
Laszlo Jaczenko
facilitator, Climate Smart Elephant
Zsuzsanna Pozsonyi
plant-based kitchen coach
dr. Attila Varga
Habil. Associate Professor. Institute of People–Environment Transaction lecturer. Sustainability and Psychology Research Group, ELTE University
Behavior change through online cooking sessions
We designed our sessions based on market research (eg. online cooking schools, recipe apps) and researching materials by the Food Bank of Olsztyn, EIT Food’s FoodEducators and FoodUnfolded’s contents. For session leading we selected vegan chef Zsuzsanna Pozsonyi with vast experience in the field. The educational content focused on the following: fun facts about vegetables, fruits, and different diets, infographic about different environmental footprints of various protein sources, alternative milks and sustainable behaviour choices.
We opted for online cooking sessions instead of in-person events due to the following reasons: with the online version, intervention happens at home in a surrounding where the behaviour can be easily repeated later and it engages both child and parent (and usually, the rest of the family), thus has a bigger influence on the whole family. Because it is online, it is more accessible and due to the fact that the camera can be switched off, it is inclusive to students of all kinds of different needs. On the organizers’ side these sessions are cheaper and easier to scale up. Kitchen Adventure is innovative as it combines plant-based recipes with infotainment elements bringing together the joy and fun of cooking together with the family with education about food sustainability and health.
Scientific approach: community-based social marketing
Our intervention design follows the principles and steps of community-based social marketing (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000), starting from desk research, identifying barriers and benefits, using evidence-based behaviour change tools, piloting and evaluating results.
Steps of community-based social marketing
Focus is on engagement, framing the sessions as “fun family adventures”.
About the pilot phase
In 2023 our target country was Hungary. It was chosen because of Climate Smart Elephant’s field experience and the grim national food-related health statistics. The age group 11-13 was decided on due to two factors: this group is old enough to acquire cooking skills, but still young in terms of easily adopting new behaviors. Because this group needs parental guidance, we could at least double our reach and influence a whole household instead of only a single member of it. By inviting classmates to cook together, we utilized the effect of peer pressure as well.
The experiment was conducted with 160 Hungarian families and involved 75 control group members from 5 schools from different Hungarian towns with the help of teachers as coordinators.
For inclusion, we provided the ingredients for everyone.
Research says it works!
The Kitchen Adventure offers an evidence-based approach. In the pilot phase, a scientific research was conducted, involving one pre- and two post surveys. Both parental and student groups reported that as a result of the cooking sessions, they cook more at home, pay attention to health and sustainability more and also, are more aware of the environmental consequences of their choices.
According to the end-of-session satisfaction polls, 96% of the participants found the sessions enjoyable, 86% being confident they would be able to prepare the meals by themselves, 88% found the meals tasty and 94% would like to participate in another session. The enthusiasm was well shown by the almost zero dropout rate. Teachers who were not chosen to be coordinators expressed interest in future participation. Students invited more than one family member to cook with, the cooking was repeated in certain schools. 66% of parents indicated they would even pay for such sessions.
