This paper describes the content and practical aspects of an extra-curricular after school food club in which children, predominantly from low-income backgrounds, were taught how to prepare healthy foods. The food club formed a controlled intervention that aimed to improve children's diets, and the diets of their families, by teaching the children to prepare healthy foods. One hundred children from five schools participated. The food club ran for two hours one night a week for 20 weeks between September 1999 and April 2000. In each session the children were provided with a healthy snack, prepared two dishes that incorporated many different fruits, vegetables and starchy foods and had the opportunity to taste new and exotic foods. Key elements of success have been identified as adopting an approach tha
