OPERATIONS
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AN EXPERT PANEL AT FOODSERVICE DIRECTOR’S RECENT MENU DIRECTIONS CONFERENCE DELVED INTO THE PAST, FUTURE AND CURRENT STATE OF THE ONSITE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY. THE FUTURE OF FOOD AS MEDICINE: IT’S A WORK IN PROGRESS
F SD Senior Editor Benita Gin- gerella moderated a panel fo- cused on fine-tuning our defi- nitions of food as medicine as an industry at the recent Menu Directions conference in Atlanta. The panel was made up of experts in different segments and areas of on- site foodservice: Lindsey Palmer, VP nutrition and industry relations for Chartwells K12; Chef Jeffrey Qua- sha, senior director of culinary inno- vation for Morrison Healthcare and Carolyn O’Neil, president of O’Neil Nutrition Communications. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? As for the question of “What does food BY TARA FITZPATRICK
as medicine mean to you?” Quasha drew on his extensive experience with that question in the world of health- care dining, both on the patient and retail sides. “It’s a question we constantly ask ourselves: Is food truly medicine if no one is eating it?” Quasha said. “That’s the approach we’re taking at Morrison Healthcare, that every patient matters.” To reach each patient, healthcare dining professionals must realize that positive, life-saving changes to their diet just don’t happen overnight. “It takes 90 days to change a habit. We can give them a start, though," he said. When communicating the message of food as medicine to school-age kids, “it looks different than any other set- ting,” Palmer said. “We want to make
our education piece relatable. We do education in the cafeteria. The main thing with young participants is talking about and identifying fruits and vegeta- bles. We only have a few minutes, so we try not to give too much information, but give them foods that can help them manage their moods and their bodies.” Palmer referenced Inside Out, a Pix- ar movie that dealt with feelings. “How do we talk to them about emotions? We use our Mood Boost program, and through this program, we’re looking at students who don’t know what we know as adults, so we’re meeting them where they are and making it fun and relatable, not heavy concepts.” Also on the K-12 side, Palmer said there’s been a move to be more in- clusive. For example, what used to be
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Q3 2024
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TARA FITZPATRICK
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