UNMC594 - Advanced Culinary Nutrition Science in Practice - Practical

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

UNMC593 Advanced Culinary Nutrition Science in Practice - Theory or submission of a statement to demonstrate evidence of prior learning equivalent to UNMC593 - Advanced Culinary Nutrition Science in Practice - Theory Microcredential.

Incompatible

NUTR500 Advanced Culinary Nutrition Science in Practice

Unit rationale, description and aim

Eating is integral to life and a multitude of factors affect the eating experience. The relationships between food, perceptions of food, the eating environment and food and beverage intake are only beginning to be understood. Building on learnings from UNMC593 Advanced Culinary Nutrition in Practice – THEORY, this microcredential will support students to obtain a highly advanced food planning, preparation, cooking and presentation skills and enable students to become influencers of dietary intake in settings from food service in hospitals and nursing homes to meal delivery and cooking kits in the home or workplace.

The aim of the microcredential is to help students acquire the complex high-level practical and research skills to solve nutrition related problems through highly innovative preparation, cooking and presentation of food that includes industry appropriate creative design of eating environments and eating occasions that have high sensory appeal

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Formulate, execute, and present a culinary nutrition science research project to effectively, yet succinctly, answer a nutrition-related research question (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10);

LO2 - Use safe, and highly developed creative, and innovative food planning, preparation, cooking and styling techniques for targeted eating environments (GA5, GA9,);

LO3 - Demonstrate teamwork and advanced leadership skills, including the ability to delegate where required, in a commercial kitchen environment (GA5, GA7).

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

Application of:

• advanced sensory analysis
• food styling principles for the table, in plating and in amateur food photography
• scientific principles of preparation and cooking methods
• culinary science research

Advanced food preparation and cooking techniques

Working as a team in a commercial cooking environment

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The microcredential content will be completed over a 2-week intensive, or equivalent teaching period (e.g. over a series of weekends according to demand and resources). Where delivered in the 2-week mode, this will be delivered concurrently with an undergraduate advanced culinary science unit in the Master of Dietetic Practice and Graduate Certificate in Culinary Nutrition Science. The microcredential begins by building on the theoretical knowledge gained in UNMC593 Advanced Culinary Nutrition Science in Practice – Theory and assists students apply their learning through research and practical skills development in the kitchen.

The approaches used in this microcredential have a constructively aligned developmental sequence designed to progressively, and logically, support students learning in ways that maximise the perceived (and actual) relevance and value of each activity. It is expected to engender high levels of engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness in students’ study behaviours, and to maximise their learning achievements. This strategy and approaches will allow students to meet the aim and learning outcomes of the microcredential. Learning and teaching approaches will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively in learning activities.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In this microcredential, a 2-part assessment task will extend students’ theoretical understanding by requiring students to successfully undertake a small and specific culinary nutrition science research project providing students with the opportunity to explore a topic of interest and demonstrate their ability to manage a research project from conception to communication of results. This assessment task will be submitted in two parts, the first a group presentation and the second an individual written report, requiring students to demonstrate two forms of research communication.

This assessment task will allow microcredential coordinators to assess students’ demonstration of the learning outcomes.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Blumenthal, H. (2008). The Big Fat Duck Cookbook. London: Bloomsbury.

Segnit, N. (2010). The Flavour Thesaurus. London: Bloomsbury Publishing

Spence, C. (2017). Gastrophysics. United Kingdom. Penguin Random House.

The Science of Taste Symposium. (2014). Originally published in the journal Flavour which is no longer published. Collection of articles published by BMC https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/the-science-of-taste

This, H. (2008). Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor. New York: Colombia University Press

This, H. (2010). Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking. New York: Colombia University Press

Vega, C., Ubbink, J. & van der Linden E. Ed. (2013). The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking. New York: Colombia University Press

Recipe based

The Editors of America’s Test Kitchen & Crosby, G. (2012). The Science of Good Cooking. Massachusetts: Cook’s Illustrated

Other

International Food Information Council Foundation https://foodinsight.org/

Explore the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement and other work by Cornell Food Lab (note recent controversies) https://www.smarterlunchrooms.org/scorecard-tools/smarter-lunchrooms-strategies

Food Styling resources TBC