Year
2024Credit points
5Campus 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.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Formulate, execute, and present a culinary nutrition science research project to effectively, yet succinctly, answer a nutrition-related research question |
| LO2 | Use safe, and highly developed creative, and innovative food planning, preparation, cooking and styling techniques for targeted eating environments |
| LO3 | Demonstrate teamwork and advanced leadership skills, including the ability to delegate where required, in a commercial kitchen environment |
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
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Research Project: Enables students to demonstrate their ability to innovatively develop, execute and present the results of a relevant experiment to answer a research question. Students will work in groups to develop and present their project and submit an individual written report. | Presentation of project 30% Written report 70% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
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