(1) Background: The Culinary Medicine elective at the German medical schools of the universities of Göttingen, Giessen, and Brandenburg is a teaching kitchen-based elective aimed at training medical students on how to improve patient counselling on nutrition and lifestyle medicine topics. This curriculum was either delivered virtually (2021) or in-person (2022/2023). Changes in teaching effectiveness were evaluated. (2) Methods: The elective included seven modules in the teaching kitchen for 3 h each. It consisted of a short introduction and a hands-on interactive cooking part illustrating important dietary principles in different disease groups. The elective was conducted virtually in 2021 in a fully interactive setup using videoconference tools. Students in this cohort attended from their private kitchens whereas students in the in-person cohort (2022/2023) attended the same classes in the teaching kitchen. Standardized comparative self-assessment questionnaires on counselling competencies, nutrition knowledge, eating habits, and mental well-being (WHO-5) before and after the elective were used to determine teaching effectiveness. Paired and unpaired t-tests were performed to evaluate results. (3) Results: A total of 70 students (mean semester 6.3) were included in the virtual cohort, and 80 students (mean semester 6.3) were in the in-person cohort. In both, counselling competencies on 25 nutrition and lifestyle medicine topics increased significantly. Significant changes also occurred in most nutrition knowledge categories. Subjective well-being as well as personal attitudes towards nutrition counselling in medical practice improved significantly during the elective. Healthy eating habits improved in both groups as students ate significantly less unfavourable foods. There were no significant differences between the two groups apart from minor differences in nutrition knowledge. (4) Conclusions: The elective in Culinary Medicine improved students counselling competencies, nutrition knowledge, attitudes, well-being, and eating habits with no relevant difference between virtual and in-person teaching.

Culinary Medicine (CM) has gained increasing popularity as an educational approach to improve nutrition-related competencies among healthcare professionals. Previous studies have demonstrated increased counseling competencies, but also improvements in dietary behaviors among participants, however, objective biomarker-based evidence of such behavioral changes remains scarce. This pilot study aimed to explore preliminary effects of a CM course on biochemical and anthropometric parameters, and to evaluate the feasibility of biomarker assessment among medical students. In this exploratory pre-post study, medical students completed a 20-h virtual CM curriculum. Blood samples were collected before and after the course to assess lipid parameters, HbA1c, erythrocyte fatty acid compositions, and body weight. Of 30 enrolled students, 13 participated in the biomarker assessment. There were slight non-significant decreases in Body Mass Index (−0.08 kg/m², p = 0.07) and standard laboratory lipid parameters, including LDL Cholesterol (−0.08 mmol/L, p = 0.598) and total cholesterol (−0.12 mmol/L, p = 0.493). Significant alterations in erythrocyte fatty acids were detected with a slight increase in saturated fatty acids (+0.78 %, p = 0.004) and, in particular, monounsaturated fatty acids (+1.04 %, p = 0.004), accompanied by a significant decrease in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (−2.28 %, p = 0.003). This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of conducting biomarker-based evaluations within a CM curriculum and provides preliminary biochemical evidence supporting previous self-reported findings of dietary behavior change. The study illustrates a promising approach for integrating objective outcome measures into CM education and informs the design of future, adequately powered trials.