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Welcome to my site! Have you ever wondered that cooking can be a valuable skill? Are you aware that our food choices, meal sources and preparation techniques can influence our health? So why not turn yourself into a vegetarian chef and enjoy eating a well-planned healthy vegetarian diet?

Cooking and preparing meals at home has been linked to a lot of valuable benefits due to less intake of sugar, salt and fewer calories. If we cook at home, we have a choice to include a wide range of vegetables, whole grains and fruits of our choice. The prevalence of diet-related diseases such as hypertension, obesity, particular cancers and type II diabetes has been increasing globally in recent years. The causes of these changes have been attributed to the decrease in the amount of time spent cooking home-based meals. In a survey of 2000 residents conducted in the United Kingdom, “learn to cook” was rated as the highest non-tech skill for a modern lifestyle. Research suggests that cooking skills should be included in strategies to prevent and reduce chronic metabolism-related diseases.  The negligence in learning cooking skills among younger generations is a matter of concern in Australia. The lack of modelling by elders of culinary skills and the dependency on ready-prepared meals in fast food outlets and restaurants could be the reasons for the demise of cookery skills. Education on nutrition and food literacy facilitates everyone, especially younger generations, to comprehend the scientific and philosophical principles of eating a healthy diet. These food literacy capabilities comprise knowledge, techniques and capacities to "select", "store", "prepare", "cook", "serve" and understand the therapeutic effects of the food.

A vegetarian diet contains all essential nutrients such as Vitamin C and E, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, higher fibre, phytochemicals and more unsaturated fat and less cholesterol (Craig, 2009).  The American Dietetic Association has stated that “appropriately planned vegetarian diets including total vegetarian or vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases” (Harvard Medical School, 2018).

Food is significant to the culture of most communities in Australia, then why not comprehend and appreciate food cultures of multicultural cuisine and build cultural competence (Queensland Government, 2015, p.1). Check out the information on the site and provide your insights too on your experiences and techniques of your home-cooked vegetarian meals.