Food Preparation and Nutrition is an exciting and creative course which focuses on practical cooking skills to ensure students develop a thorough understanding of nutrition, food provenance and the working characteristics of food materials. At its heart, this subject focuses on nurturing students’ practical cookery skills to give them a strong understanding of nutrition and a lifelong love of cooking.

Food preparation skills are integrated into five core topics: 

• Food, nutrition and health  

• Food science  

• Food safety  

• Food choice  

• Food provenance

The range of food and ingredients studied should reflect the recommended guidelines for a healthy diet based on the main food commodity groups.  

Food groups include:  

• bread, cereals, flour, oats, rice, potatoes and pasta  

• fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen, dried, canned and juiced)  

• milk, cheese and yoghurt  

• meat, fish, eggs, soya, tofu, beans, nuts and seeds  

• butter, oil, margarine, sugar and syrup. 

Skills will be taught throughout the course to include knife skills, preparing fruit and vegetables, use of the cooker, use of equipment, cooking methods, sauce making, dough making and finishing and use of raising agents and setting mixtures.   

Upon completion of this course, students will be qualified to go on to further study, or to embark on an apprenticeship or full-time career in the catering or food industries. 

We aim to up skill our students to be able to make healthy choices with their diet now and in the future. Food Preparation and Nutrition specification sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills required to cook and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating.