Food as Medicine (FAM) is a rapidly growing initiative that aims to reduce food insecurity, enhance dietary quality, and improve health outcomes via medically tailored meals, produce prescriptions, and emerging disciplines, including Culinary Nutrition and Culinary Medicine (CN/CM). Within this field, CN and CM have evolved into interprofessional practices that integrate culinary arts with evidence-based nutrition science to support individual and population health.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' 2025-2030 Strategic Plan recognizes the importance of CN and CM and positions dietitians as leaders in advancing FAM. As CN and CM continue to grow, multiple organizations and disciplines are creating standardized definitions and competency frameworks to guide training and implementation. However, because the field has evolved through global efforts and across disparate practice areas, it now includes numerous foundational constructs that can complicate consistent application.

This session will synthesize the recently published definitions and frameworks, align these constructs with appropriate use cases, and offer practical strategies for applying them across education and training, clinical care, community health, and foodservice. In doing so, the session aims to equip current and future dietitians to serve as leaders and effective collaborators in CN and CM, as well as in the broader FAM movement.