National Culinary Review July/Aug 2023

KEEPING JOY ON THE PLATE

Dietitians help chefs balance nutrition and health with good taste and flavor // By Lauren Kramer

If there’s one trend that doesn’t seem to be dwindling, it’s diners’ quest for healthier foods. Some are wrestling with weight gain, heart issues and diet-related restrictions while others are simply choosing healthier lifestyles that include more nutritious whole foods. Working at the front lines of menu development and innovation, chefs are in a unique position to meet those needs. So how do you craft complex, delicious and beautifully presented dishes that meet the requirements of nutritionconscious diners? For many chefs, the answer lies in working with registered dietitians who can help make the adjustments needed to ensure menus are nutritionally balanced.

Healthier cooking goes well beyond simply reducing butter, sugar, cream and salt content, says ACF Chef Leah Sarris, RD, LDN, MBA , director of culinary marketing and education at Wild Hive, a New Orleans-based consultancy dedicated to helping people live better through food and agriculture.

“The more modern approach to healthier eating is not to demonize anything, and to remember that there’s room for every ingredient,” says Chef Sarris, one of the developers of the culinary medicine program at Tulane University. She

has also served as executive director of the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute and taught culinary nutrition at Johnson & Wales University, her alma mater. “But there are principles we can teach that can be used across the board and that can help chefs serve great plantforward dishes that just happen to be good for people.”

Chef Sarris remains inspired by Chef Yotam Ottolenghi , an Israeli chef whose meals are vegetable-driven and innovatively prepared. “He’s a perfect example of a chef focused on rebalancing the plate,” she says. “The old-fashioned approach to healthy eating was to substitute chicken breast for roasted chicken or to switch to a fatfree dressing or a healthier sauce. These days, we’re focusing on new menu items where the vegetables are the star of the plate and the protein is more of the garnish. We’re building great flavors through seasonings, spices, citrus and vinegars, and we’re highlighting innovative cooking techniques like sous vide.”

The key, Chef Sarris says, is to add bold, new dishes without extracting the old favorites that diners love and don’t want to relinquish. “If you want a cheeseburger, you want a cheeseburger,” she says. “You can try and turn it into something healthier but it’s not going to

be the same. So keep the cheeseburger — just don’t eat it every day!”

Chefs can seek out and work with dieticians to help build menus for consumers seeking more nutritious meals, as well as those with food allergies or dietary restrictions (see sidebar). “Dietitians help ensure that chefs are serving food that will keep their clients healthy, and some dietitians that are trained in culinary arts can take it a step further and help ideate or train chefs on more plant-forward approaches to cooking,” Chef Sarris says. “We can also get down to a more granular level,

and help chefs understand where to find monounsaturated fats, and how to source vegetarian proteins that contain fat and fiber.”

Chef Sarris suggests avoiding those little hearts on menus or other logos from years past that designate healthierfor-you dishes. “When people see that, they’re automatically turned off because they don’t think it will taste good or that they’ll be as satisfied if they order that dish,” she says. “If we just have great options on the menu that are also good for you, more diners will select those.”

Chef Sarris’ motto is that while there’s room for everything on the menu, the key is balance. “Keep the indulgent menu items but incorporate some new, beautiful, plantforward meals as well. If we can get to a point where 80% of the menu features lighter, healthier options, then we can normalize a plant-forward approach.”

The role of chefs in changing how and what diners eat cannot be underestimated, Chef Sarris emphasizes. “We chefs are at the front line for millions of people who have heart disease, are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Because chefs are feeding people and driving fads, they can have an even bigger impact than doctors in promoting dietary change.”

How to Partner with a Dietician

A Q&A with Chef Wesley McWhorter, registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Q: How do I find a dietitian to partner with?

A: Begin at eatright.org, the academy’s website, where you can search by location and then look at the specialties of the dietitians in your area.

Q: How might a dietitian help me update my menu? What kind of things might the dietitian recommend?

A: There’s a common misconception that dietitians take everything enjoyable and make it disgusting. That’s completely untrue — we are not the food police. We’re there to show you how to incorporate deliciousness in the plate. Chefs know flavor and pairing, and a dietitian can suggest adding some things and reducing others to create dishes with healthier nutritional profiles.

Q: Will a dietitian help me determine the nutritional profile of dishes?

A: Dietitians can provide data on the exact nutrients, or more holistically, they can help chefs understand the proportional balance of each dish — the ratio of vegetables to protein, for example. This can help chefs save on the bottom line, too, because a lot of the things that are good

for us are not as expensive as the ingredients chefs are using. Animal proteins tend to be really expensive, but by using more legumes and vegetables we can save money. Many chefs are trained to make the protein the focus of the plate. As dietitians, we highlight the beauty of the fiber-rich food that’s so good for us. It’s not about dieting, but rather about balancing out the proportions.

Q: Can a dietitian help me identify dishes that are glutenfree, vegetarian, etc.?

A: Any time there’s an allergy, heart issues or restrictions due to chronic conditions, a dietitian is the person to talk to to make sure the diner is getting what they need.

Q: What other things can a dietitian help me with?

A: Dietitians can help make nutrition enjoyable. There’s this diet mentality where people think, ‘to be healthy I have to be miserable.’ It’s not true. Dietitians are really good at working with chefs to keep joy on the plate. We help chefs navigate ingredients to make food enjoyable, but also to benefit the health of their diners. It’s a beautiful marriage: ensuring the enjoyability of a dish and its nutritional profile.