ACU's culinary nutrition short courses invite you to explore food not just as nourishment, but as science, practice and lived experience of food environments in a global context. Designed for professionals, emerging practitioners and passionate learners from around the world, these courses open new ways of thinking about how food influences health, culture, and community.

Whether you are strengthening your professional capability, expanding an existing skill set, or preparing for a new career direction, you will engage with contemporary ideas that connect evidence with real-world application.


FAQ

  • Health or allied health professionals ready to broaden your impact.
  • Chefs or food industry practitioners seeking deeper purpose in your practice.
  • Educators inspired to bring food and health to life in the classroom.
  • Researchers exploring the applied possibilities of food science.
  • Career changers drawn to an interdisciplinary and evolving field.
  • Curious cooks wanting knowledge grounded in evidence.

No matter your starting point, you will gain structured, research-informed insights that connect food preparation, sensory experience and health outcomes.

Culinary nutrition sits at the intersection of science and everyday life. It considers how food is prepared, experienced and shared, and how these moments shape wellbeing.

Through flexible online study, you will:

  • engage with contemporary research and emerging perspectives
  • translate theory into practical, real-world capability
  • strengthen your confidence as an informed voice in food and health
  • join a growing community focused on thoughtful, evidence-informed practice.

Choose a single course to strengthen a specific skill or combine courses to broaden your expertise across key themes in culinary nutrition.

Current course offerings are:

  • Culinary Nutrition Science Research and Advanced Cooking
  • Advanced Flavour and Multimodal Sensory Science
  • Sensory Principles of Healthier Recipe Development and Food Styling
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Temperature and Time
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Salt and Umami
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Fats and Oils
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Sugar, Acid, Sour and Bitter.

Upcoming offerings include:

  • Sensory Principles for Eating Environments and Gastrophysics
  • Special Diets from Popular Fads to Therapeutic Modern Day
  • Best Practices with Culinary Nutrition Interventions and Cultural Safety
  • Lifespan, Lifestage and Aged Care Special Diets
  • Food Allergy and Intolerance Special Diets
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Popular Diets
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Cultural Cooking
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science with Modified Fat, Salt, Sugar and Textures
  • Practical Culinary Nutrition Science Free from Allergens and Gluten.

You can explore the free course A Taste of Culinary Nutrition for more details on the entire suite.

Reimagine food. Rethink health.

Shape the way food supports wellbeing in homes, kitchens, classrooms and communities.

Flexible. Evidence-informed. Future-focused.

Explore courses and enrol
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