Cooking Courses in Higher Education: A Method to Foster Education for Sustainable Development and Promoting Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Since October 2011, we offer an optional course “CookUOS—Cooking in context of health literacy and education for sustainable development” at University of Osnabrueck assuming, that cooking and eating is a feasible method to convey ESD by combining theory with an emotional activity everybody knows (Neumann et al. 2016). CookUOS works as a “bus” to pitch science to the participants. They develop figurative and decision-making competencies, self-responsibility and self-efficiency by practice-related tasks. During interdisciplinary colloquia, CookUOS initiates by means of an obligate transdisciplinary change of perspectives a multiprofessional and interdisciplinary exchange between the participants. This paper votes for the implementation of more theory practice-based approaches in higher education to recruit multipliers. A cooking course following theoretical lectures in the curricula of higher education fosters knowledge, competencies and skills we need now and in the future to achieve ambitious agenda 2030 aims. An overview of a 6-year experience analyses pitfalls and succeeding. It furthermore points out opportunities for research as well as options to promote a transfer of knowledge within this process to society to society and vice versa.