IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - Women in Cambridge Bay are taking to the kitchen and learning how to prepare healthy foods, according to Moms for Credit program co-ordinator Margaret Epilon.

Kalene Epilon and Annie Agligoetok cut up caribou meat during a "Moms for Credit" program at the Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre. The centre is also teaching moms how to cook healthy meals. - photo courtesy of Margaret Epilon.

The program is especially designed for pregnant women and women with children under one year old, Epilon said.

"They can come learn about basic cooking, healthy and nutritional cooking," she said.

The women meet in the community's Wellness Centre every Tuesday afternoon to learn how to prepare nutritious meals.

The groups are small -- usually about three or four women show up on any given afternoon -- but the kitchen is a busy place. Some women also bring their children with them to their cooking lessons.

"They love coming; they can bring their kids," Epilon said.

During the class, the group works together to make a healthy meal that the women then taste test. All ingredients are provided by the Wellness Centre for the class. After the women finish learning how to make the meal, they are given the recipe to take home.

"We do one meal, one dish we do here, to show them how to cook it and at the end they taste test it and we give them the ingredients and recipes for what we just made and they take it home and cook it on their own," she said.

Epilon said not only is the class teaching young mothers how to prepare healthy meals, but the food the class makes together can help provide a meal to someone who might otherwise go without.

"Some of them have a low income, so they come here and get food as well," she said.

Epilon said the class' creations range from ethnic food to country food.

"We make stuff like chili, Italian-style meatballs," Epilon said. "We try to get traditional food and that would be our first choice before any store-bought food."

But country food is hard to come by these days, Epilon said.

"We try to get meat from local hunters but lately there hasn't been any," she said. "They (caribou) are kind of far. I guess that’s what people are saying. It's kind of hard right now to get."

Epilon said she usually teaches the class herself, but often members of Healthy Foods North drop by to help out. The class runs from 2 until 4 p.m.