Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Taloyoak (Mar 06/00) - One thing is for certain. Whether it be a traditional caribou stew or tacos and lasagna, when families belly up to the table in Taloyoak, they're getting a nutritional meal.

And that's not all.

When the women who head up those families attend the cooking classes organized and funded as part of the community's Healthy Start program, they have a chance to mingle with their peers in a child-free environment.

"It's fun," said Mosie Jayko, the mother of six-month-old Angus Jayko.

"The people are fun and we talk about lots of things. It really helps," she said.

As well as giving her a much-needed break -- free child care is provided as part of the weekly cooking class -- and an evening of socializing in a healthy environment, the Tuesday night event has armed her with nutritional recipes for both country and store-bought foods.

She also gets the opportunity to learn to prepare the foods of other cultures.

"It's a good introduction to preparing foods," said Jeanette English, the co-ordinator of the program.

"We have guest cooks from different cultural backgrounds come in. They've learned how to make a curry and perogies and elders come in and teach them traditional foods," she added.

Further, to ensure families participate and learn to eat nutritionally, the women are given the chance to take home the results of their labour after each class. That gives their spouses and children added encouragement to eat healthy.

It's the combination of all of those benefits that leads to the desired goal of keeping babies healthy in the Kitikmeot hamlet.

"Our goal for the program is to have healthier babies," said English.

"We want higher birth rates and to teach the women about the dangers of smoking and drugs and alcohol. These babies are our future," she said.

With that in mind, English said the cooking lessons, which run for 10 weeks and are open to all pre- and post-natal women in the hamlet, are accompanied by other healthy events during the week.

Funded by Health Canada, the programs run the gamut of appointments and counselling on Fridays to swimming and gym time on Thursday evenings to Baby Club on Mondays.

"That's an interactive program for moms and babies from birth to six years of age," said English.

"They come for games, stories, shared experiences and a question and answer period. The kids learn to share and the moms share their information," she added.

It's that sharing that has most helped Heather Tulurialik become a better mother to nine-month-old Ted Simon.

"We talk about how our babies are doing, what they're learning, what they could learn, what they should eat," said Tulurialik.

"We talk about how to keep our babies well."