HJNO May/Jun 2021

Q&A 18 MAY / JUN 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (GCCM) was the first teaching kitchen oper- ated within a medical school. What was the genesis of the program? The Goldring Center for Culinary Medi- cine was founded in 2012 after the dean of Tulane’s School of Medicine at the time, Benjamin Sachs, MBBS, DPH, realized there was a substantial need for better nutrition education in medical school. At that time, there was barely any nutrition being taught to doctors, if any at all. He appointed Tim- othy Harlan, MD, an internist with a back- ground as a chef, to develop the program and open a teaching kitchen. Over time, with the input of medical students, the curricu- lum evolved from basic nutrition and cook- ing skills to include more biochemistry and case-based learning. The current “Healthmeets Food”culinary medicine curriculum is founded on evi- dence-based research and focuses on trans- lating the literature into the home kitchen. From the beginning, it was important that we not only lecture students on nutrition concepts, but actually get them into the kitchen for hands-on cooking classes. This approach allows us to provide students with practical skills and knowledge that they can use both in their own personal lives as well as when they are counseling patients. This approach should be more impactful than, for example, simply telling a patient that they need to reduce their saturated fat intake. If the physician understands what that really means from a cooking and eat- ing perspective and how to achieve it, they can give tangible advice that will be more impactful for the patient. Howwould you describe the culinarymedicine movement? Culinary medicine has been defined as an emerging field that blends the art of cook- ing with the science of medicine. The goal of this practice is to help patients maintain and improve their health through cooking and eating nutritious meals. There’s a focus on both general health and wellness pro- motion as well as optimal nutrition for spe- cific medical conditions. We see the prev- alence of chronic disease in this country and know how many of these conditions can be improved through dietary and life- style interventions. The thing I like about our approach to culinary medicine is that we aren’t suggesting anything too dramatic. By having simple, small goals rather than huge, sweeping changes, we are able to help patients with long-term health improve- ment. Many people equate culinary medi- cine with “food as medicine,” and while we know that food can have healing benefits, we do not feel that food should completely replace medicine. Culinary medicine should ideally be just another tool in the healthcare professional’s toolbox to be called upon to provide the best patient-centered care. Howmany medical schools are now using the “Health meets Food” curriculum, and how did sharing the curriculum get started? Has the curriculum changed over the years? It came as no surprise to us that a med school in New Orleans, the culinary gem of the U.S., would lead the country in figuring out how to teach future physicians and healthcare providers the art and application of culinary medicine. We got a moment with Heather Nace, director of operations and executive chef at The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University’s School of Medicine’s time and thought you would enjoy learning a bit of this newish, delicious element of medicine.