Culinary nutrition in practice:

Integrate real food and cooking into your professional work with confidence, clarity, and the skills to design programs that transform outcomes

Enrollment is currently closed but the March Cohort opens soon!

Get first access, early-bird pricing, and priority enrollment when you join the waitlist.

Take Nutrition Out of the Office and Into the Kitchen

This is for RDs and nutrition pros who know there’s a more effective, engaging, and evidence-based way to work with food and are ready to integrate cooking and culinary nutrition into their professional practice.

Research consistently shows that hands-on cooking and food engagement improve confidence, skills, dietary quality and long-term behavior change.


This program shows you how to apply that research intentionally and professionally and turn culinary nutrition into impact-driven programs that go beyond the office and into real-world food experience.

You know nutrition.

But getting people to use it in real life is another story.
Clients tune out when it’s theory. They struggle in the kitchen. And you know deep down that food isn’t just a topic — it’s the medium for change.

Whether you want to:
✨ expand your impact beyond counseling sessions
✨ teach food with real confidence
✨ design signature programs beyond just classes
✨ integrate culinary nutrition into clinical, community, corporate, or private practice

This is where that transformation begins.

But when you bring those same lessons into the kitchen, everything changes.

People engage.
They remember.
They transform.

Food isn’t meant to be explained; it’s meant to be experienced.

Welcome to

Culinary nutrition in practice

Nutrition education or coaching in an office alone can feel like something is missing, because it rarely engages people where dietary change actually happens: in the kitchen, with real food and in real contexts.

At the same time, research continues to reinforce what many RDs intuitively know:

  • Cooking skills increase dietary quality

  • Food experiences change behavior

  • Confidence with food builds self-efficacy and empowerment and helps clients move past a diet-mentality into something that’s sustainable, enjoyable, and nourishing

Culinary nutrition is an evidence-based evolution of how nutrition works in the real world.

This program exists to help you integrate that evolution into your work.

Here’s What You’ll Learn Inside the 4 Weeks:

Week 1:

Why Cooking Classes Matter & How to Get Started

  • How cooking changes food relationships & supports sustainable dietary change

  • Identifying your audience: corporate wellness, community, private clients, virtual groups

  • Choosing your focus: demo, hands-on, or hybrid formats

  • Confidence in the kitchen: teaching as a professional, not just “showing recipes”

Takeaway: Clarity on your “why” + first draft of your ideal class concept.

Week 2:

Design Your Class Framework

  • How to pick themes that resonate (seasonal, cultural, health goals, skill-based)

  • Testing and refining recipes for teaching (simplicity, timing, wow-factor)

  • Structuring a class: flow, timing, pacing, and keeping participants engaged

  • Logistics: equipment, space setup, safety considerations

  • Virtual vs. in-person → adapting for different environments

Takeaway: A complete class outline (theme + menu + timing).

Week 3:

Market & Make It Profitable

  • Pricing strategies for different audiences (community vs. corporate vs. private)

  • How to position your classes as high-value for your audience

  • Marketing tactics that work: social media, partnerships, referrals, LinkedIn

  • Filling seats for in-person and virtual classes

  • Turning a one-off class into an ongoing program or series

Takeaway: A marketing plan + pricing strategy tailored to your niche.

Week 4:

Deliver With Confidence & Create Impact

  • How to teach like a pro: pacing, storytelling, and keeping energy high

  • Managing group dynamics: engaging participants, troubleshooting on the fly

  • Adding value: what to give students (handouts, recipe cards, shopping lists)

  • Gathering feedback + measuring impact (for future sales + credibility)

  • Building momentum: how to repurpose your class into content, programs, or memberships

Takeaway: A launch-ready cooking class + confidence to deliver it.

“I have been searching - for years!! - for someone like you to develop your Food School, and I’m so excited to learn from you!”
— Current Cooking Class Blueprint Student

This program is about integration

Culinary Nutrition in Practice is designed for RDs who don’t want to abandon what they know but rather want to expand how they apply it.

Inside the program, you’ll learn how to:

  • Use cooking and food skills as professional tools

  • Translate nutrition science into food-based experiences

  • Design culinary nutrition programs that fit your setting

  • Facilitate food engagement with confidence and clarity

  • Build offerings that are evidence-informed, adaptable, and sustainable

You don’t have to be a chef. In fact, the kitchen needs more RDs!

In this program, I’ll share the tips, techniques, and ways of thinking I learned in culinary school so you can think like a chef, while showing up as an RD.

A growing body of research shows that cooking interventions:

Improve dietary quality

Increase self-efficacy around food

Support long-term behavior change

Enhance engagement in nutrition programs

Culinary Nutrition in Practice bridges that research with real-world application and gives you the skills and structure to put it into action.

What You’ll Build Inside the Program:

  • Culinary Nutrition Foundations
    Understanding how cooking, food skills, and behavior intersect

  • Applied Culinary Skills
    Flavor, technique, flexibility — and how to translate them simply

  • Program Design & Integration
    Creating culinary nutrition offerings that work in your role

  • Professional Application
    Adapting culinary nutrition for different audiences and settings

"Participating in Shauna McQueen's Food School was an invaluable experience! She thoroughly guided us step by step thru the process with beautifully inspiring and super  informational slides, and a teaching style that was both clear and encouraging.

Her feedback was incredibly generous and creative—she truly listened, honored my ideas, and helped me see how to shape them into something stronger, more cohesive, and uniquely mine. 

I would highly recommend Shauna's series of classes to any and all RDs who recognize that building culinary skills can deeply impact their clients' success."

- Linda, Food School Grad and RD

If you’ve been feeling the pull toward food as a deeper, more effective way to practice nutrition, this is where that path begins…

A woman with long blonde hair smiling at the camera in an indoor setting.

Hi there!

I’m Shauna McQueen, a registered dietitian, trained chef, educator, and yoga teacher with over a decade of experience working at the intersection of nutrition, food, and behavior change.

My work goes far beyond cooking classes. I’ve helped design and lead nutrition-focused food and wellness programs in corporate settings - including work with companies like Spotify and Barclays - where food wasn’t just educational, but part of a larger strategy to support wellbeing at scale.

Alongside my culinary training, I’m a certified yoga instructor and that lens continues to shape how I teach: food is never just about nutrients or technique — it’s about awareness, relationship, and how people actually experience eating in their daily lives.

Food School grew out of this integrated approach. Here, I teach nutrition professionals how to apply culinary nutrition in real-world settings combining practical cooking skills, program design, and mindful, evidence-informed frameworks that help food education truly land.

I truly believe that transformation doesn’t happen in an office.


It happens in the kitchen.

A smiling female chef in a black chef's coat holding a white plate with a fried food item, garnished with colorful edible flowers and greens, in a commercial kitchen.
A female chef in a white uniform and black hat smiling in a kitchen, with a group of people seated at a table in front of her.

FAQS

What if I can’t make the live sessions?

No worries! All sessions will be recorded and sent to you, so you can learn on your own time.

Do I need to be an amazing cook to teach cooking classes?

Not at all. You’ll learn how to keep things simple and practical—your clients want real-world skills, not gourmet tricks.

Is this course eligible for CEUs?

The founding cohort is focused on building skills and frameworks. CEU accreditation is something I plan to explore for future versions.

How long will I have access to the materials?

All course materials and resources will be available for download.

Will I have a finished class at the end?

Absolutely. Each week, we’ll build your class together so you’ll walk away with a fully structured, marketable class you can launch immediately.