Cooking is healthier and more economical than ordering take-out or eating fast food.
And with a new kitchen filled with all the cooking appliances one could expect to find in a home, Monongalia County Health Department Women, Infants, and Children is teaching people how to make simple, delicious recipes.
Cami Haught, nutrition program manager, said the previous manager, who retired in October, started the kitchen project with the goal of having a space to do cooking demonstrations.
WIC’s mission is to educate people on healthy eating and good nutrition practices, Haught said.
Cooking is an important part of that mission and the recipes are designed with ingredients that can be purchased with WIC benefits. Cooking meals can also be a good way to spend time with kids and studies show children who help in the kitchen tend to have healthier diets, Haught said.
The first recipe, guacamole, can be watched on MCHD WIC, Morgantown, WV, Facebook page or @monongaliawicon TikTok.
“It’s been really fun,” Erin Kelly, a dietetic intern from Marshal University, said. Kelly, who is on a distance internship to become a registered dietitian, is one half of the team responsible for planning the recipes and making the video. The other is Laura Dondgia, a public health student with a minor in nutrition who is doing her field practice.
“I’m very thankful for them,” Haught said. “They’ve been wonderful.”
Kelly said the videos are being filmed and edited on TikTok because the app gives them a lot of editing software that would otherwise be expensive, as long as the videos are only a minute long.
The short length also helps keep people’s attention, she said.
After COVID-19, Haught said, she hopes WIC participants can come into the kitchen to learn in-person, but it will depend on the guidelines.
Morgantown’s WIC serves six counties: Monongalia, Preston Marion, Harrison, Doddridge and Taylor. “We would love to be able to serve everybody who meets the guidelines,” Haught said.
According to the West Virginia WIC guidelines, qualified applicants are pregnant women, women breastfeeding a newborn up to 1-year-old, postpartum women up to six months after delivery or end of pregnancy, infants up to their first birthday and children aged 1-5.
Additional income guidelines can be viewed at dhhr.wv.gov/WIC. Different household sizes have different income maximums.
Many people probably don’t realize they qualify, especially those who’ve had their hours cut or are unemployed because of the pandemic, Haught said.
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