08 Nutrition

Monday November 29, 2004

“Who’s excited for Nutrition?” Chef Steve asks on the first day of class, chuckling wryly. We’ve already spent four weeks together in Safety and Sanitation, Food Science, and Basic Skills, and with this, the start of our final class with Chef Steve, we all feel like we’re heading into the final stretch – the “end of the beginning” as it were.

The class responds with a smattering of enthusiastic whoops, but I, for one, do not think Nutrition will be anything special. We’ve already finished Food Science, the lecture class in which I was most interested, and I assume that Nutrition will be much drier – mostly talk about the amount of fats, carbohydrates, proteins and other nutrients that we need in our diets and how most Americans are precariously close to obesity. I envision lectures on food pyramids and the benefits of green leafy vegetables, and I hope that I’ll be able to make it through each class without dozing off.

As it turns out, I’m not that far off the mark regarding the content of the course. The material is dry, and there are, in fact, whole sections of our textbook dedicated to food pyramids and comprehensive lists of the nutritional content of common foods. What catches me off-guard, however, is how my classmates treat the class. Although it could have easily been just another set of materials to get through, many of my classmates truly seem invested in what we’re studying. Nutrition offers a window into the power that food holds over our lives, and for many of my classmates, it highlights the personal reasons that brought them to the CCA in the first place.

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Just as in Safety and Sanitation, part of our grade comes from an in-class oral presentation that most of us dread. Although Chef Steve correctly reminds us that executive chefs must be comfortable speaking in front of large groups, even the most outgoing members of the class turn into nervous wrecks when they come up to the front of the room. There’s just something about public speaking that raises everyone’s heart rate and causes palms to sweat.

That’s why we’re all surprised when Tanya, a cheery quality assurance engineer who sits in the front row, volunteers to speak first, several days before the oral reports are technically due. Tanya is a good student – the type of person who uses a highlighter as she takes her notes to demarcate the important information. Although not much taller than 5’, she’s a bundle of energy with round, rosy cheeks and a bright smile to match. On Halloween she was the only one in the class to “dress up” in facial makeup (costumes weren’t allowed to show through our uniforms), and she brought in trick-or-treat cups filled with candy and pencils for everyone in the class.

Tanya has volunteered to give her talk early because she knows it will help us with another assignment we’ve been given – a three-day journal of everything we eat, from the pat of butter on our morning’s toast, to the last spoonful of ice cream before we go to bed. The journal is meant to show us how our own diets are broken down into fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, and it spans three days so that one stop at McDonalds or a wild Friday night won’t skew the results too dramatically. Tanya’s talk on how to calculate the percentage of nutrients in food items essentially serves as the “how-to” guide for the assignment.

After passing out a handout and running through a sample calculation that shows the amount of fat in a 6 oz chicken breast, Tanya pauses for a brief second. She has finished the main part of her talk, but clearly has something more to say.

“Y’all may be wondering why I know so much about this stuff,” she begins. “You see, I used to make these calculations all the time. I used to carry a book around with me that showed the number of calories every piece of food had, and I’d only eat it if it was in that book. I was in training to be an Olympic swimmer – I may not look like it now, but I used to eat no more than 300 calories a day, and take laxatives so that I wouldn’t be a single ounce overweight for my races. It was only after I fainted one day and was taken to the hospital that everyone realized that I was suffering from anorexia and bulimia – the doctors told me I had to eat, that I couldn’t go on as I had been. I heard what they were saying, and I knew mentally what I was doing, but I didn’t like to hear it. I didn’t want to change. I was pissed off at them. They made me take a bunch of nutrition classes, and I had to quit swimming. I’ve gotten better, but I know there’s still a part of me that can get back into that place. That’s why knowing about this stuff is so important.”

Tanya explains this all frankly and openly, perfectly willing to share her story with the class. While she doesn’t grow overly emotional when she talks about her ordeal, it’s clear that the topics we’re learning about in Nutrition are important to her. Tanya has come to cooking school as part of her healing process – it’s her way of reconnecting with the food that she disdained during her illness.

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Tanya’s openness during her oral report is not an anomaly – many in the class use their 3-5 minutes to talk about nutrition-related issues that have affected them on a personal level. Chris Kutina, my first basic skills partner, shyly tells the class about his family’s history with heart disease. Jeff Castillo, a jolly, strongly built man, passes out multi-vitamin packets and talks about how he once ate nothing but vitamins and water for five days while trying to make weight for wrestling. Ryan Conn, known for including potty jokes in his first oral report on shigella, reinforces his reputation with a talk on lactose intolerance that includes a florid description of what happens when he consumes milk products. And Leslie Esquibel, a fiery Hispanic girl, breaks down into tears when talking about how a close family member has been suffering from Type 2 Diabetes, a severe illness that primarily affects the obese.

Indeed, the topics that we study in Nutrition strike a chord with my classmates in a way that nothing else has. Although the material is dry and sometimes hard to get through, I’m thankful for the unexpected glimpses into the personal lives of my classmates. It seems that Nutrition isn’t just about counting calories – it’s about the consequences our diet has on our own life, and the lives of those around us.

Next: 09 Basic Skills Pt. 3
Last: 07 Food Science

Most Americans do not get enough fruit in their diets.