ABSTRACT
Given the global rise in non-communicative chronic diseases that are directly linked to lifespan nutritional habits, there is a need to train health professionals capable of educating patients about nutrition in a competent and culturally sensitive manner. With its focus on critical thinking and meaning-creation, and its dynamic learning modalities, health humanities is well positioned to provide curricular and extracurricular experiences that assist in educating health trainees in desired competencies. In this chapter we describe an applied role for the health humanities in the education of future health professionals, sharing specific “culinary medicine” and “food as medicine” strategies we have used with students at Penn State College of Medicine. We further identify future trends in health care and imagine how the health humanities can continue to evolve with complex health systems.
