In between anatomy and biochemistry, medical students in the US are learning how to sauté, simmer and season healthy, homemade meals.

Since 2012, first and second year students at Tulane University School of Medicine in Louisiana have been learning how to cook. Since the program launched, Tulane has built the country’s first med school-affiliated teaching kitchen and become the first medical school to count a chef as a full-time instructor.

Sixteen med schools have now licensed the center’s curriculum, as have two non-medical schools, the Children’s Hospital San Antonio-Sky Lakes Residency Program and the Nursing School at Northwest Arkansas Community College. In fact, about 10% of America’s medical schools are teaching their students how to cook with Tulane’s program, Tim Harlan, who leads Tulane’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, told the James Beard Foundation conference last month. It also offerscontinuing medical education programs with a certification for culinary medicine, for doctors, their assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and registered dietitians.

The program, developed with culinary school Johnson & Wales, helps doctors give real health advice to their patients, says Harlan, who’s both a chef and a doctor. As he says in the video below: “We’re not talking about nutrition, we’re talking about food.”