Tasty Thursdays

I have close friend who is a sous chef at a nice little restaurant in Yorkville who is currently working on a chef's certificate from George Brown. Our friendship began when I was looking for someone to bake with. I heard that he made awesome cookies, so I decided to ask him to teach me. Our friendship continues to grow because of our love for food and our fascination with how flavours blend together to create something tasty. I talk about the nerdy science-related background of food (ie food science and nutrition), and he talks about cooking techniques as well as ways to bring out flavours.

The more we talk about food, the more I realize that there is a HUGE gap between those who have the knowledge in nutrition and those who have the skills and talents to create tasty meals. In school we are always taught that there needs to be a multidisciplinary team to help treat patients, so I hope that one day the gap between Chefs and Dietitians/Nutritionists will become smaller.

The best thing about having a friend who is in a Chef's certificate program is that he is always cooking and baking. This means that I am pretty much a walking guinea pig. He experiments, I eat it, critique it, and we talk about ways to perfect his dish.

Every Thursday he will cook me dinner using a vegetable that I have never tasted. It's fun for me because I get to try new foods and I get fed, and he is able to challenge himself. One night I asked him to make me something with brussel sprouts. Growing up I would always hear horror stories about terrible brussel sprouts tasted, so I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. I challenged my friend to make a full meal where every dish had to include brussel sprouts (can you tell that I watch too much Iron Chef?!), and the next thing I know, I'm sitting there on his couch eating Brussel Sprout Vanilla Pudding with a hint of Lemon and honestly...it was tasty!

It's not only fun to learn about flavours and cooking techniques, I think it can also play a role in counselling patients who need to make minor dietary changes. It is always easier to counsel people on healthy eating when you can imagine the taste and texture of foods. I use to get frustrated with people who refused to eat minced/pureed foods until I tried it myself. If given the opportunity, I would take cooking classes so that I could learn how flavours blend together, as well as learn cooking techniques that can be used to help people with respect to healthier cooking techniques.

People often say that eating healthy means eating bland, boring foods. This is not the case. If we, as future Dietitians/Nutritionists, learn how to use flavours and cooking techniques in creating tasty, yet healthy meals, we would be able to work with people's diets and teach them how they can incorporate their dietary needs/concerns with foods that they love.

O.Noir

Just a word of warning, this blog entry may seem very narrow-minded, and is probably biased because I am a foodie who appreciates the smell, taste, and the chemistry of food...



There is restaurant called "O.Noir" in Toronto where you get to experience eating a meal while sitting in the dark. I believe the original concept was created by a blind man in Zurich, Switzerland who decided to open up a restaurant that gave customers a feeling of what it would feel like to eat blind. I have yet to try eating at "O.Noir", but it is definitely on my list of "Must Try" restaurants.

I think this is a very neat concept because not only are you given to opportunity to get a taste of what it feels like to be blind, you are also given an opportunity to really experience the food that you are consuming. I know too many people who don't really "appreciate" the food that they consume. It doesn't even have to be "good" or "tasty" food, just food in general. They eat it, they like it, but they don't really look past the fact that they're eating something that their bodies require. They don't think about how specific ingredients were carefully chosen to create a sauce, nor do they think about the time and effort it took to create the meal that they are consuming.

While, Indian cuisine is not my favourite (I'm not a fan of strong, aromatic spices), I have a huge appreciation for the numerous spices that come together to create some of their cultural dishes. Take Tandoori Chicken for example, there is a blend of at least 7 spices (this doesn't include anything else, for example yogurt and lemon juice that is also used in Tandoori chicken) that are combined together to make a mixture that is then rubbed onto chicken. If half of the spices were missing, some people (at least some of the people that I know) probably wouldn't even notice.

While I understand that not everyone can afford to eat at expensive restaurants, I think it would be valuable for people to sit down, close their eyes, and really taste the food that they consume. I admit, before my love for food became an all out obsession, I too never really cared much for the appreciation that food (as well as those who take the time to prepare the food consumed) deserves. Hopefully the idea of restaurants that challenge the way we consume foods will help us change our framework with respect to how we appreciate food.

It Sucks to Have Allergies

There is an increase in the number of people in North America with food allergies. I developed allergies to all fresh fruit a little over a decade ago. When I tell people that I am allergic to all fresh fruit (and I literally mean ALL fresh fruit, even the weird, imported fruit from China Town), the first reaction I get is "What? Seriously? That's impossible! You must have it wrong. You should research that a bit more." I use to think that I was a strange creature. I feared that I would eventually develop Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. I felt like an outcast, and no one could explain what was wrong with me. They didn't know what specific protein it was that was causing the allergic reaction. The allergy specialist that I had gone to see said that I was maybe experiencing an allergic reaction to pesticides used on all fresh fruits and vegetables (this was at a time when organic foods were really expensive, and not readily available). But how does one explain how I was only allergic to fresh fruit, not fresh, raw vegetables?

This summer I bit into an apple for the first time in a decade. Since the allergy specialist said that I was "maybe" allergic to pesticides, I thought, well why don't I try organic fruit? I walked into the local Metro with a huge grin, I was about to bite into an apple (one of my favourite fruits). Long story short, I was disappointed. My third bite in, my throat was already starting to get itchy. I'm not anaphylactic, my throat becomes itchy and begins to swell a little bit, but it's the first fresh apple that I've eaten in a decade, so I'm desperate and so I continue to eat my apple. I feel uncomfortable for a few hours after eating my apple, but it was well worth it.

The frustrating thing with food allergies is that there is so little research being done on this topic. Even with the increase of food allergies, there is little literature out there about the possible causes and cures. Fresh fruit allergies seem unusual, however it is becoming more common. In the past 4 years I have met 5 people with fresh fruit allergies. The alarming thing is that most people that I have met who have fresh fruit allergies have grown into them. Usually if a child has food allergies when they are younger, there is a probability that they will grow out of them. Those who develop allergies later in life tend to stay allergic to those foods for the remainder of their life.

While I have noticed that food companies and public institutions have addressed the recent rise in allergies, especially peanut allergies, there needs to be more awareness about other food allergies that could become dietary concerns for the North American population. I am waiting for the day when I can tell someone that I am allergic to all fresh fruit, and have them not give me a snarky comment about how I need to do more research because "It's impossible to be allergic to all fresh fruit", because really, I've been living with these allergies for a little over a decade. I think I should know what I am, and am not allergic to.