ACG PERSPECTIVES

Culinary Connections:

warm and wonderful

WHAT STARTED AS A COMMON LOVE FOR FOOD ON #GITWITTER by Dr. Vani Paleti, Dr. Alexander Perelman, and Dr. Christina Tennyson during the start of the COVID pandemic is now into its third series of #ACGfoodies culinary connections, with immense support from our ACG team. We are very excited to bring you “Warm & Wonderful” as we look forward to gathering with family and friends during this holiday season.

Holidays are filled with love, joy, and memories-in-the-making. Let’s come together to celebrate safely (yay for vaccines!). We thank Dr. Supriya Rao, Dr. Jordan Shapiro, and Dr. Tatiana Policarpo for sharing their culinary connection journeys and recipes for dishes that speak to their souls and bring a smile to their faces.

SUPRIYA RAO, MD

Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants, North Chelmsford, MA Growing up in a South Indian family, food was not just an important part of life, it was an expression of love. I would watch my mom exchange recipes with her friends and family members like she exchanged hugs. Family gatherings and dinner parties were synonymous with culinary adventures. Like in most cultures, coming together over food was a social and cultural celebration.

I was raised a vegetarian and was introduced to a variety of plants at a young age. Leafy greens, okra, brassicas, squashes, root vegetables, beans, and lentils were in common rotation at the dinner table. Over the years, I became my mother’s apprentice and learned everything I could about Indian cooking, mixing turmeric and cumin with ginger and chili powder and eating highly flavorful food that was healthy and nourishing.

I must admit, I wasn’t the healthiest during my college and training years. Away from my mother’s cooking, I fell into a highly processed vegetarian diet. Late nights studying and on-call nights in the hospital led to poor eating choices—something very common for my peers, myself, and anyone at that stage in training. I watched colleagues start antihypertensives and statins, and I knew that my lifestyle had to change.

After becoming a gastroenterologist and seeing patients full time, I got a firsthand glimpse into how our lifestyle, especially our diet, affects our health. We know that food can affect how we feel

“We know that food can affect how we feel and that there is a strong connection between the brain, gut, and microbiome.”

—Dr. Supriya Rao

and that there is a strong connection between the brain, gut, and microbiome. Highly processed and palatable foods wreak havoc on our microbiome and our moods. I saw this not only in patients with functional GI disorders, but also in patients with GERD and NAFLD. Even colon cancer is linked with diet. I wanted to be able to provide the necessary toolkit for patients to improve their lives with small, sustainable changes. This desire led me to seek further education. I became board certified in obesity medicine and am pursuing further training in lifestyle medicine. I wanted to make changes in my patients’ lives and ended up making some in my own life, as well.

I currently am plant-based and raise my children this way. I have involved them in preparing meals from a young age. I’ve learned that kids are excited to learn where their food comes from and want to partake in cooking. We aim for a high-fiber diet that is full of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and plant-based protein. Our goal is to have a wide range of colors in our meals, and we often count the number of plants present. We aim for at least 30 unique plants per week to improve microbiome diversity.

As we enter the colder months, I find myself making a lot of soups and stews. It’s an easy way to get in a lot of vegetables and have leftovers for later in the week. This lentil soup is a family favorite—warm and hearty and even better with a hunk of crusty bread. Over the last several years, I’ve rediscovered the habits that I had growing up in a plant-based household. I want to teach my

NOURISHING LENTIL VEGETABLE SOUP

 Ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil • 1 onion, diced • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 2 carrots, chopped • 2 stalks celery, chopped • 1 potato, diced • 1 cup French or brown lentils • Couple of handfuls baby spinach • 4 cups vegetable broth • 2 cups water

Spices

• 2 tsp cumin • 1 tsp coriander • 1 tsp thyme • 1 tsp turmeric • ½ Tbsp salt • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, to taste  Steps

1. Heat up the olive oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-based pot over medium heat. 2. Sauté the onions until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes 3. Add in the garlic along with the spices (cumin, coriander, turmeric, thyme) and stir for about 1 minute 4. Add in the carrots, celery, potato and lentils. Stir until well combined, about 2 minutes. 5. Pour in the broth and water, add in salt and pepper. Bring to boil, then cover and turn the heat down to medium to allow for a gentle simmer. 6. Cook for about 25 minutes until the lentils are soft but hold their shape. 7. Add in the baby spinach and let it wilt in the soup. 8. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

If you have an Instant Pot, you can do steps 1–5 in the Instant Pot and cook at high pressure for 15 min.

kids how to eat so that they will carry these habits forward and make good choices for their health and wellness.

TATIANA POLICARPO, MD

Thomas Jefferson Hospital, Philadelphia, PA Sharing a meal is a great way to bring people together. For me, I grew up in a Brazilian household, and food was central to our life. I have fond memories of coming together for weeknight dinners with my family and Sunday afternoon barbecues with family and friends. Our traditional dinners were always accompanied by rice and black beans with a side salad. When I reminisce about the Brazilian foods I grew up with, I’m reminded of rich, flavorful comfort dishes. Some of my favorites were feijoada (black bean stew), Brazilian stroganoff (a creamier twist on the traditional Russian dish served over rice and topped with potato sticks), and desserts that prominently featured sweetened condensed milk such as brigadeiro (fudge balls) and pudim de leite condensado (Brazilian style

“Through my own research and an inspiring social media community of doctors interested in culinary medicine, I’m learning more about nutrition and trying to incorporate more plants and fewer processed foods into my own diet.”

—Dr. Tatiana Policarpo

flan). My Brazilian background has influenced my cooking style, particularly my love of beans and my soft spot for sweetened condensed milk desserts.

As a first-year gastroenterology fellow, I’m learning more about how food is such an important part of digestive health. I think it’s important for gastroenterologists to be comfortable discussing diet and nutrition with our patients. Through my own research and an inspiring social media community of doctors interested in culinary medicine, I’m learning more about nutrition and trying to incorporate more plants and fewer processed foods into my own diet. I love learning new recipes that highlight fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes.

Although I love to cook, as a busy GI fellow and mom to a small child, I often struggle to find time to cook healthy meals for myself and my family. I try to prioritize meals that are quick to assemble and can be prepared ahead of time. Here is one of my go-to recipes in the fall and winter—the harvest bowl. I like that it’s a warm and filling meal that I can prep in advance (make a big batch of rice early in the week, roast veggies ahead of time). The harvest bowl is very versatile—I often swap out ingredients for whatever I have on hand.

HARVEST BOWL

 Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, cubed (can buy pre-cubed for faster prep) • • 1 cup cooked chickpeas (I used canned chickpeas to save time. Could also use any bean or cooked lentils) 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil • salt and pepper • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 2 bunch of kale (any variety), chopped • juice of 1 small lemon • 2 cups cooked brown rice (or another whole grain like quinoa) • 1 apple, thinly sliced • 1/4 cup roasted almonds, chopped (for topping, other good options include any chopped nuts, dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, pepitas)

Tahini sauce

• 1/2 cup tahini • juice of 1 small lemon • 1/3 cup water • 2 garlic cloves, minced • 1/2 tsp salt • 1 tsp maple syrup or honey (optional)  Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Toss the butternut squash and chickpeas with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast for 30–40 minutes, until squash is soft. 3. While the squash and chickpeas are roasting, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat until shimmering, then add garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant. 4. Add kale to the pan and stir, cooking until kale is wilted (~5 min), then stir in the lemon juice and add salt and pepper, to taste.

5. Mix all tahini sauce ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Add additional water to thin if necessary. 6. Assemble individual bowls with brown rice, squash, chickpeas, kale, apple slices, and chopped almonds. Drizzle tahini sauce on top, to taste.

JORDAN M. SHAPIRO, MD

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX Chai means “tea” in Hindi. While the term chai can refer to any tea, it most often refers to tea taken with milk and spices. Chai is the national beverage of India and is much more than a tasty, caffeinated beverage. Chai is a shared cultural experience of all of humanity throughout the Indian subcontinent. No two cups or chaiwalas (chai vendors) are the same. One has a bit more ginger. Another is sweeter. And the man on the corner uses more elaichi (cardamom). Chai may be served in glass cups, metal cups, or traditional clay cups. Despite the variations on the national beverage of India, chai brings together people of all walks of life. All are welcome.

I have made homemade chai nearly daily since my first trip to India at age 19 and have countless chai memories. In the mountains, tea stands broke up long hikes and helped slow the ascent to reduce the risk of ascending too quickly. I would wake up in the mornings to the chaiwalas yelling, “Chai ready!” outside of my door. My favorite tea stand was “India’s Last Tea Shop” in Mana Village, just 20 kilometers from the Tibetan border. Years later in medical school I lived and worked for several months in a remote village in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I arrived at the local bus station with the sun setting and my phone rendered useless due to the need for a different SIM card than the one I’d used in Mumbai. I started wondering which of the four venomous snakes of the area (common krait, banded krait, king cobra, and Russell’s viper) I would run into first. I sat down to rest and a group of people surrounded me. A man named Vinod stepped forward and said, “Sir, you seem to have a problem. Is it language?” Vinod was a local English teacher. He took me to a tea stand, bought me a cup of chai, and waited to help me onto the last bus of the evening. I was dropped off on the side of the highway and walked into the jungle with cup of chai in-hand for half a kilometer until I reached my destination—where I was welcomed with another cup of chai!

In many ways, making chai is a spiritual practice. I approach the stove with intention to nourish myself so I can nourish others. I prepare the offerings for the pot. As I add to the pot, I mumble old Sanskrit verses meant to acknowledge that our food can be medicine. And as I strain the tea, there is a newness that emerges out of the ancient culture from which chai originates. Chai is a refreshing way to take the best of old with us into the new day.

 We would love to hear from you if you have personal connections with GI and gastronomy. Contact ACG

MAGAZINE staff at acgmag@gi.org to share your story with the ACG community. You can also tweet using #ACGfoodies to connect with the community.

Wishing you all a very safe and happy holidays from our culinary connections #ACGfoodies team.

“Despite the variations on the national beverage of India, chai brings together people of all walks of life. All are welcome.”

—Dr. Jordan Shapiro

MASALA CHAI – MAKES 2 CUPS

 Ingredients

• 1 cup water • • • 1 cup milk 1 inch peeled fresh ginger root 2 tsp Red Label loose leaf black tea • 10 green cardamom pods • 2 threads saffron • 4 tsp sugar

8. Strain and pour into cups  Tips • Speed the process up by 1) boiling water with an electric kettle and/or 2) using two pots to slowly warm milk while preparing the water, ginger, and tea, then combining the contents of  Steps • the two pots. Traditional chai is made with buffalo milk. The traditional consistency is most similarly attained with 2% or whole cow’s milk. However, chai can be made with alternatives such as soy, almond, oat, and hemp milk. The water content of these is often higher and I would recommend using 2 to 1 ratio of • milk alternatives to water. Straining the final product into a pot with a good pouring lip makes it easier to fill travel mugs with narrower openings.

1. 2. Grate ginger into water and bring to a boil Add black tea and let steep 3–5 minutes 3.

Add milk and turn heat to medium to 4. 5. bring to a slow boil Crush cardamom pods into powder with a mortar and pestle, add to pot Grind saffron in a mortar and pestle, add to pot 6. 7. Add sugar Stir and bring to a slow boil