What comes to mind when you think of “eating healthy”? Do you picture a salad? Steamed veggies and baked salmon on a bed of brown rice? A green smoothie? Zucchini noodles?
The truth is, there are as many ways to “eat healthy” as there are people, and eating for optimal health is going to look different for each individual. It’s going to depend on their health status, their age, their activity level, yes, but it’s also going to depend on their values, their culture, their budget – and their skills in the kitchen.
If you're interested in developing your culinary skills while learning to develop and adapt recipes to meet special nutritional needs, the Culinary Medcine course in the School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness might just be for you. Connie Bell, from the School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness (SNSW), and Jennifer Parlin, from The Garden Kitchen, have designed their course to give students “real-world, transferrable culinary skills they can use to help people adopt healthier eating behaviors.” Over the course of a semester, students learn how to create and adapt recipes for different budgets, eating habits, and health concerns – including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and food allergies – and they pick up some impressive cooking skills themselves. They stir-fry, sauté, roast, and braise; they make stocks and sauces; they learn to shop and meal prep. And then, they learn how to teach these skills to others through food demonstrations."