What strategies can Nutrition Programs use to meet the ethnic and cultural food preferences of participants?
Ethnic and religious customs are two of the many factors that influence our food preferences. Understanding the “culture” and its relationship to food preferences will help Nutrition Programs improve the quality of their services. Nutrition Programs should embrace their participants’ diversity and focus attention on customer satisfaction. Serving familiar ethnic foods at congregate meal sites and to the homebound will increase the likelihood that the meal will be eaten and enjoyed. It may be one way to increase participation in congregate settings. When designing menus for the Nutrition Program, the cultural food preferences of all program participants should be considered. Today, the menu often contains common ethnic foods like spaghetti and lasagna; chow mien and stir-fry beef and broccoli; corned beef and cabbage; fried chicken and sweet potatoes. However, there may be many entrees and side dishes representative of other cultures that are often overlooked. The good feeling participa
