The Suffolk Virginia Cooperative Extension Office is taking healthy cooking classes on the road this summer.

In the months leading up to the August debut of its new mobile farmers market targeting the city’s four food deserts, the extension office will offer six-week cooking classes for adults and children in those communities.

Food deserts are areas where residents have a hard time getting fresh fruits and vegetables, because they live more than one mile from a grocery store in urban areas, and in rural areas, more than 10 miles, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Downtown Suffolk, Holland, Whaleyville and Chuckatuck are considered food deserts in Suffolk.

Using a $75,000 grant from the Obici Healthcare Foundation, the extension agency will teach the free course, “Cooking Matters,” in the communities. The first sessions will be in the downtown and Whaleyville communities; sessions in Holland and Chuckatuck are being planned for fall.

Last year, the extension office drew 225 people to four similar events at its office in downtown Suffolk, extension agent Marcus Williams said.

“One of the biggest problems we identified last year was the lack of transportation,” he said. “So we are taking the demonstrations to the communities.”

The program is designed to teach participants new ways to prepare fresh produce, with the ultimate goal of increasing their family’s consumption of fresh produce, Williams said.

The adult classes include hands-on cooking demonstrations, meal preparation, knife skills, food safety, grocery shopping for healthy foods on a budget, and reading labels. After each weekly class, participants will get the ingredients to make the same dish at home during the week, Williams said.

Each session will end with a tour of Farm Fresh, giving participants experience reading labels and picking out fresh produce.

The first adult class, which begins this week at the East Suffolk Recreation Center, 138 S. Sixth St., is already full, Williams said.

But the extension is offering two six-week youth sessions, designed for kids between the ages of 8 and 12, at East Suffolk, beginning on June 28 and June 30. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis, with the only requirement being that participants live in the surrounding community, he said.

Kids will learn how to make more health-conscious snack choices and how to make some foods themselves, Williams said.

“We want to teach them to make healthy choices from an early age,” he said.

Openings are still available in the second session of adult classes, which will begin June 10 at the Whaleyville Community Center, 132 Robertson St.

Details are still being worked out for the adult and youth classes for the Chuckatuck and Holland communities, Williams said. Register by calling extension at 514-4330.