Towards healthy food: ingredients and culinary techniques

Mireia Anglada is a haute cuisine chef and nutrition expert. He teaches healthy cooking sessions in the module on culinary products and techniques of the Master in Culinary Arts and Kitchen Management of EUHT StPOL. “Healthy food and creative cuisine are fully compatible and we demonstrate it in the master’s degree,” says Anglada. In the following lines we share an interview with the chef during the healthy food sessions taught at EUHT StPOL (Barcelona).

What we don’t know about healthy food?

First of all, when we think of healthy cooking we usually think that it is the typical grilled steak dish with vegetables. In the sessions of healthy food I try to convey to students how to cook with healthy ingredients and what are the best cooking techniques. For example: we use ingredients such as buckwheat and whole grains with which they have not usually worked and with them we prepare from fritters to crepes or hamburgers, among others.

In addition, we also treat the emotional part of food so that students realize the importance that each food can have on a neuronal or physical level, among others.

Is healthy cooking just a trend?

It is a trend that will stay. Great chefs are already involved in this matter, so I think we can not only talk about a passing trend. We are what we eat, they say. That is, cooking is a matter of responsibility with health, but it is also a form of leisure, pleasure for the diner. In this sense, I think that healthy cooking is not something boring, but that healthy food and creative cuisine are fully compatible and in the master’s degree we demonstrate it.

The fact that the great chefs line up with healthy cooking is or will be enough to spread this trend?

It is one more step. There is still a lot of fast food but little by little we are seeing that worldwide steps are being taken in this direction: use more vegan products, for example. It is also an issue related to the environment: the abuse of meat consumption is having many negative effects at the planetary level and there are already large companies that are positioning themselves very seriously towards the new trends of food and healthy food. There is a general awareness that is gradually consolidating.

Are we going to eat more according to the beneficial properties of each piece of food or to the sensations generated by the taste of a dish?

I think we will continue eating for an organoleptic but consciously. For example: it is not the same to cook green beans for 3-5 minutes than for 10 or 15 minutes because it has more minerals, more vitamins, maintains the fibers … In short, it is about using a good culinary technique and applying it in a dish. If we all ate 50% of the dish daily in vegetables, there would be no problems with eating.

Why is it important for a master’s student to have knowledge about healthy food?

Healthy eating and cooking are the future. When the master’s healthy food sessions are over, the students have the necessary tools to cook for coeliacs, lactose intolerant or allergic to eggs or other foods; a fact that increasingly is the order of the day in restaurants and kitchens. In short, it is about going one step beyond healthy or healthy food.