Cooking Together: Where Generations Meet Around the Table

An innovative intergenerational program is bringing youth and people living with dementia into the kitchen

Something remarkable happens when a 22-year-old and a 75-year-old stand side by side rolling dough or tossing a Thai-inspired salad. Conversation flows. Memories surface. Skills are exchanged. That, in essence, is the premise and growing proof behind Cooking Together, an innovative multi-week intergenerational cooking and nutrition program.

Cooking Together pairs young adults (ages 18–30) with older adults living with memory loss or dementia for a series of hands-on cooking sessions spanning six to eight weeks. Hosted in accessible community settings and led by trained staff or volunteers, the program is designed to do far more than produce a good meal.

Food is special in that it brings together people like nothing else can. The act of working together and eating together builds connection, understanding, identity, and skills. Cooking Together, focused on easy to assemble dishes, makes healthy eating accessible and enjoyable across generations.”
– Heather Keller, Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging, Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging, Professor, University of Waterloo

The research behind Cooking Together fills a meaningful gap. While intergenerational programs for people living with dementia have demonstrated real benefits, most have been concentrated in long-term care homes or day programs. They are often focused on single sessions, and oriented around crafts or music. Rarely has food itself been the medium.

A Rich Menu of Resources

Through the Knowledge Translation and Exchange (KTE) Accelerator Grants, co-funded by Brain Canada and Alzheimer Society of Canada, funding was awarded to Heather Keller, Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging, Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging and her team at the University of Waterloo to bring Cooking Together to a wider audience.

To build interest and reach new participants, the team produced two promotional videos (one for community organizations considering hosting the program, and the other for prospective youth and older adult participants) and hosted community sessions. This gave potential participants and providers a first-hand taste of the program and generated interest from diverse audiences to participate in more sessions.

Additionally, five recipe demonstration videos were professionally produced. Covering dishes like Zucchini Muffins, Hummus Veggie Wraps, Quinoa Salad, Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Basil Sauce, and a Thai-Inspired Salad, these videos give participants the confidence to recreate recipes and benefit from the intergenerational connection on their own time, extending the program’s impact well beyond the in-person meetings.

Lastly, a 26-page implementation manual, packed with 32 recipes in a clear, easy-to-use format was created.

Nourishing More Than the Body

At its heart, Cooking Together is a program about dignity, curiosity, and interdependence. Younger participants, many of whom are building independent lives and developing their own food skills, benefit from the knowledge and lived experience of older adults. Older participants, in turn, experience the vitality and engagement that comes from meaningful connection with youth. Across the table, assumptions about aging and dementia are quietly dismantled, one shared meal at a time.

With its resource library expanding, its community network growing, and its evidence base strengthening, Cooking Together is poised to become a scalable model for community-based intergenerational programming. It is rooted not in clinical settings, but in the simple, universal act of preparing and sharing food.

Learn more about Cooking Together and how your community can get involved.