Healthology Symposium

>> Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome. Thank you so much for being here.

We are thrilled to have you here. My name is Kevin Beers, and I'm very happy to be here and be a small part of this. It is my distinct pleasure to hand this off to the Professor and Dean of the School of Health Sciences, Kevin Ball. [APPLAUSE]

>> We're ready to enjoy a great day. One of the great things about this day is it's actually free to you. You all get to participate free, and maybe even eat some food - that's free. But "there's no free lunch" as the saying goes because in reality, we thank our sponsors. Without the sponsors, the event really couldn't happen. You have made a huge difference for us to get started on this program today, so thank you to our sponsors. [APPLAUSE]

I have to now introduce Reggie Jackson, Quality Improvement Coach for Medical Network One, he's going to come in and say a few words. Med Net One is the sponsor - along with our Chartwells - of today's culinary demonstration. So Reggie.

>> Good afternoon everyone. My name is Reginald Jackson, but you guys can just call me Reggie, Reginald is my father's name. I'm an alumnus from Oakland University's School of Health Sciences. I graduated with my MPH and I'm representing Medical Network One today. I'm pleased to announce our culinary sponsor to demonstrate it be presented by Professor Sarah Martin and Chef Peasgood. [APPLAUSE]

>> Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here today and we are doing a little demo and you kind of get a peek of what we do in our food class that we teach here at OU. I have some of my students here, right here. I have Eva, Emily, and Philip. If you guys out in the demo area will get confused, just ask one of my students, they know what they're doing. Chef, we are going to be making a plant-based salad that has this perfect protein in it. We decided that we needed Chartwells help to do it, so thank you so much for coming and helping us out. When they first asked me to do healthology, I said, "Yes, definitely, I'm going to do it." But what I also said was - I became a dietitian because I like food, but I like to eat foods. If I'm going to talk about nutrition, I need to actually be eating food for you. We're actually going to demonstrate how easy it is to add plant-based protein into your life, how easy it is to make small changes and start cooking and doing small changes towards health. Can you get us started?

>> Welcome everyone. Everyone here at Oakland University, thank you for joining us today. My name is Chef Kevin. I'm the Executive Chef here for Chartwells. I had a lot of fun working on this menu. The thing that we're making today is going to be a soba noodle salad shaker. You'll be receiving the salad for your first course in your dinner tonight. We're demoing it here. You'll have a chance to try it to your dinner. First thing we'll be doing this making some pickled carrots, which will be tossed in the salad, this will also be in the salad tonight. We're going to get our pan here hot.

>> You guys don't get a pan but you get to watch. You get to taste the pickled carrots, which is the best part. How do we start it? We're doing pickling in class in two weeks, so you guys pay attention. I expect you to really know this by the time we're getting pickles in class.

>> I'm pretty sure we can get some fire here.

>> Are we having fire troubles? While he fiddles with this and does chef things, I'm going to tell you why I love pickles. One, they're delicious. Two, they're actually really good for your gut microbiome. If you're ever wondering why you are craving pickles while they're salty, not so great, but they have vinegar and that fermentation, that extra bacteria really adds to your gut health, which is why I can justify just eating pickles all the time [LAUGHTER].

>> Very simple to do. You can make a couple of vegetables. There's many different varieties. We're doing carrots today, you can do asparagus, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, endless what you can do for pickling, as far as vegetables. This is a very simple recipe. We're going to start with some water, some apple cider vinegar.

>> I love apple cider vinegar.

>> You can use -

>> That's a really good one for your gut health too. That one really can help build your gut microbiome.

>> You can use different vinegars if you want, you can use red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, just kind of depending on what different flavor you want. To that we're going to add some salt, sugar.

>> Why do you need those chef? Why are you adding those?

>> These are actually going to give you flavor. These are part of the pickling process with the salt and sugar. That's what actually works and breaks them up the proteins down a bit. Garlic, bay leaves, and we're going to add some celery seed right here.

>> What else could you add?

>> You can add in hot peppers if you wanted to make it spicy, put some poblanos in there or some jalapeno peppers.

>> All my students in my class we've decided that dill is the best flavor for most things.

>> You see pickled vegetables at the store all the time. They're very readily available. Pickle beans, dilly beans are one that are very common. Here with also dealing with that garlic, you make them spicy. Pickled jalapenos are very popular.

>> I love pickled carrots. I feel it's an underutilized pickle. What other are your favorite veggies? What are your favorite pickle eating veggies?

>> I like pickled jalapenos. That's my favorite actually, if you ask me.

>> I like a mild one - that's a little spicy for me. But I like pickled asparagus spear. That's good. I've tried to pickle rhubarb before and it turned out disgusting. I don't know if you have any ideas for that. It was a major fail. That happens when you're cooking. Sometimes you got to try things, fail a little bit, and see what goes on.

>> This right here you want to bring it to a boil, but for the sake of time, I'm just going to let it work here.

What you want to mainly do is dissolve the sugar and salt, so we will be sure it's dissolved. That's all worked through. It's very simple to pickle. All you're doing is adding your vegetables, you got to cover them thoroughly. For your event today, we did this two days ago. All we do is you let it set at room temp, then put in the refrigerator. That's all we're doing for pickling. You definitely want to let these set overnight to get the flavor developed in them. You don't want to serve an hour or two later. They definitely need to sit for at least 24 hours to get the full flavor.

>> They call these refrigerator pickles, because we're not really canning them.

>> You can do that, but we're not, yeah.

>> But you have to use the pressure cooker and all that. I always tell my students just leave them in the refrigerator, you're not going to get anything crazy if you just leave them in the fridge.

>> I hope the cameras can see that. Then what I would do is just dump this into a container. You want to be sure you put in a non-reactive container like glass or stainless steel.

>> Not this guy?

>> I wouldn't use the plastic, yeah.

>> No, not this guy. This is for the salads.

>> That's our first portion right there. Do you want me to get into the salad portion?

>> Sure. Are you guys ready to start?

>> What I would do first is take the lids off all of your ingredients.

>> Well, wait chef. That's not what they're going to do first. You guys got to stand up and you actually have some aprons behind your seat. You can add your apron so you stay nice and clean. Actually you get just like me, you get a OU nutrition apron. You guys get to keep these, which is really exciting. If you're feeling ambitious, let's see some of these chef hats. Who looks good in the chef hat? Here's some takers. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

Now, you guys are looking more ready to start.

Now, you're looking more ready to start.

>> Wow.

>> They look good. Thank you. Now, let's get going. What are we going to do here?

>> First thing we do everyone is take the lids off of our tray. You guys have all of your all your ingredients, so just remove the lids from everything, set them off to the side.

>> What are we working with? What else do you got here?

>> We'll start with some peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, then we're going to be emulsifying oil into that. This will be our vinaigrette aspect, the rest of them will be our vegetables for assembly.

>> This is really good actually. This is a really delicious dish. You guys, they have some bowls to start with. You can use your bowls, you can use your containers, or you can even use your little shaker salad. All you do is pop it off right here, add any of yours you can use. What you'll find in the top, which is really cool, is a spot for your dressing. I wouldn't recommend making it in here because it'll spill. If you want to pour it in here later, it'll be okay. Those are so cool. I love these. Makes it a little bit easier to eat healthier, which is what I'm all about, a little bit easier to eat healthier. This is going to be a plant-based salad and it is what I call a perfect protein. We're pairing amino acids. Whenever you are making a plant-based meal, you want to think about your proteins and not just eating starches and things like that or say, "I'm going to go vegetarian, I'll just replace everything with cheese." You want to look for plant proteins. That's going to come from our edamame and our buck wheat noodles. You're ready to get started with it?

>> For the vinaigrette, I want to take the peanut butter in the cup here, grab the white spoon, you're going to take that and get that in the bowl, just drop it right in there.

>> I love peanut butter in anything.

>> Can't go wrong with peanut butter.

>> A peanut butter curry, a peanut butter soup. It goes into way more than sandwiches. That peanut butter is another plant protein. That peanut is actually a legume similar to our edamame, where it's going to have amino acids start up the fibers and things like that, that it's good for your gut health.

>> Everyone, after that I want you to take your rice wine vinegar, dump that in.

That's the clear one. Drop that in there. We're going to add our soy sauce.

>> That's a low sodium soy sauce. That's really the source of salts in the dressing.

>> Everyone just take your whisk and we'll whisk it together. Tilt your bowl on the side a little because work the peanut butter and the liquids will take a few minutes to get all together. It may look like a little mess for a second. How are we doing everyone?

>> We have some professional-looking whiskers. Looks like my students are really doing a good job. Who else is doing a really good job whisking? That's smelling really good, too. That smells really good. It's crunchy peanut butter which is going to have that good texture. As I always tell my students, flavor is a lot more than just taste. It's texture. What else is it? Does anyone know? [BACKGROUND]

Color we're looking for appeal. Yes, that's smell, that color, that texture. That flavor is everything. It's not just taste. That's what we're going for. What else do we need to do.

>> Next everyone grab there olive oil. Set your bowl flat in front of you. We're going to emulsify the oil in this. This is very slow. I want you guys to take the oil, cup the edge of your bowl, as you're whisking, just go really slow.

>> Why are we going slow chef?

>> We're forming what's called an emulsification. Basically taking the protein of the peanut butter with oil and they're binding together. Similar to like a mayonaisse, or a salad dressing.

>> You see when -

>> I have a fancy word for it.

>> A fancy word?

>> It's a colloid. Means that there is a little bit of emulsifier, or little fat droplets, that's your fancy word for the day. Most of you probably know olive oil is a pretty healthy fat, has lots of mono-unsaturated fatty acids. That's good for your heart. I'm probably not shocking any of you by saying olive oil is really healthy. But how can you tell? Does anyone know how can you tell what a healthy fat is? What's an easy way to tell? Does anyone know? What's a way to tell healthy fats?

>> It's viscosity at room temperature. If it's a solid at room temperature, it's going to be a saturated fat.

>> Yeah. That's the easiest way. If it's solid at room temperature, it's saturated. If it's liquid at room temperature, like this olive oil, like that sesame oil over there, it is likely mostly unsaturated. If you're ever wondering "Is this healthy, is it not? I don't know." If it's liquid sitting on the shelf. Probably unsaturated.

>> Okay, how's everyone doing?

>> That's looking really nice.

>> Nice job. Oh, gosh. You guys are doing a great job.

>> I believe we should be using unsweetened chunky peanut butter. But I always say use whatever is in your cupboard. Sometimes people get a little nervous of making food because they have to go out and buy 20 ingredients and it makes them feel intimidated, like they can't afford it. So if all you have, is like creamy sweetened peanut butter, you can use that, too. The recipe calls for unsweetened, but I always say "people, use what you have." Don't feel like you need to go buy $100 to make your like one salad meal.

>> Is everybody ready for assembly? Ready to put this together?

>> Yeah. Let's see what we've got.

>> Did you want to show them about the carrots first, though?

>> Yeah. What we have here is buckwheat noodle salad. But I was wanting to show you that if you're not wanting to have all starch, if you want to add a little extra vegetables. I've came up with what to call these because I add them all the time. You start, you take off the top. Then what you can do is you make something to replace that texture.

And the way - what I have been calling it - are you ready for this chef?

>> Go for it.

>> Carroodles.

Carroodles. They're my carrot noodles. What you're gonna do is be able to actually use this as buckwheat replacement. Or you can use it in the way of other noodles and use that to help replace some of that starch.

You get these long strings.

You can use that to help cut down that amount of carbohydrate and add a little extra veggies, add a little more nutrients and we call that increasing nutrient density. We want to increase nutrient density by adding the vegetables, the colors, the beans, and not just sticking with all carbs.

>> If you don't want to use carrots, you can use zucchinis. Zucchuni noodles are very popular.

>> Thos are Zoodles.

>> Zoodles. Parsnips I've seen people use.

>> I don't know what a parsnip would be.

>> Root vegetables similar to a carrot. But there's a lot of substitutions for noodles for if you want to go really plant based.

>> I like it.

>> Ok, to assemble these, everyone grab their shaker. Put in front of them. Listen - there's lots of variations of this.

We have peppers and carrots, scallions, you could use diced asparagus, blanched broccoli - the vegetables that you put this are unlimited. with what you want to do.

First thing we do is we'll take our soba noodles, dump them right in.

>> How do you cook these Chef? These are, buckwheat noodles?

>> These are buckwheat soba noodles. They're very easy to cook. What you want to do is just basically get a pot of boiling water, lightly salted.

They're delicate, but we'll just drop them in the boiling water and stir them, basically 4-5 minutes. You'll see them kind of break apart, just like spaghetti.

>> But buckwheat is special.

It sounds like it has wheat in it.

But buckwheat is actually a gluten-free grain. It's considered a whole grain, which can be really hard for people in the nutrition world. It's really difficult to tell what's a whole grain, what's not a whole grain. Whole grains are important for the salad because they have the matching set of amino acids. Legumes have a certain set of amino acids. Whole grains have another set. You want to combine whole grains and legumes when you're eating plant based. You always look for that whole grain and that legume. Who can tell me, how do I find a whole grain?

>> A whole grain is going to be anything that's primarily whole grains. You're going to look whole grain in the label.

>> Yes. We look for whole grain in the label. If it says whole buckwheat, if it says whole wheat, that's a whole grain and it's going to compliment your amino acids

>> What we'll do next is take your white spoon. Kind of take the noodles and just break them up just a little.

They were just sitting there, so I want to loosen them up so everything gets in there.

Want everyone to grab their edamame next. We are a little heavy here on this portion, so I want you to about half of it on top.

>> These are our edamame. That's our other plant protein. It's not just the peanuts being a legume, these are legume, too. I have a question. Who can tell me what a legume is?

>> Seeded plant and inside the pods are beans, a lentil, or a pea.

>> Yes, so it's the whole pod and inside is that bean, lentil, or pea, and all of those and the matching amino acids for whole grains.

When you pair that legume - anything in a pod.

So you think about a peanut, that's in a pod. Beans, those are in a pod. You pair that with your whole grain, you get this perfect protein. You get all the amino acids your body needs for healthy tissues, your immune system, and really being very healthful while not eating any of your meats.

>> Next we're going to take our pickled carrots, just dump those in there.

>> I'm excited for that.

>> We're going to do our red bell peppers. Topping of that we're going to do some green onions. Now what we're going to do is we're going to top it off with our sesame seeds here.

>> Those are so cool. Those have a really cool fat in them, too. They have both the polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats. It makes some special.

>> Why don't we - so for you guys today for the demo, why don't you take your dressings and put them in the little thing so you take this home with you. This'll hold in the refrigerator. Tonight it will be more than good. For today though, I'm going to take our spoon -

>> Do I get to taste this again?

>> We're going to take it like that We're going to put our lid on it to form a salad shaker.

Now what your going to do when you get home and you use this, just shake it up. If you want to eat it here, you can do it here.

But you want to take it home, you need to put it here.

It doesn't matter. If you dump it in now it's going to hold too. You guys all [OVERLAPPING]

>> I was told if I showed up, I would get free food. [LAUGHTER]

>> If you just shake this now, it's actually going to be fine for tonight - it'll hold through the evening. All your going to do is just toss it up, be sure everything's mixed in there. Got these really nice cups to go.

And we're going to dump it on the plate here for a portion.

>> I like this though because I'm definitely taking one of these and using it for my lunch because you just right out of it, which is perfect for my type of lifestyle. [LAUGHTER]

>> And there you go. You have a soba noodle salad with peanut vinaigrette.

>> That's look beautiful.

>> You want to give it a taste?

>> Yeah. I'll give it a taste. Let's see if that's better than the one I prepared the other day.

How are you guys doing out there?

You guys feel like chefs yet? Let's see if I can eat in front of everyone noodles.

This is the most challenging part.

>> You guys can try it if you want now.

>> That's delicious.

>> Very simple recipe, lots of fun. Using plant-based protein, plant-based products.

>> Thank you. Now you guys now, a little bit easier way, to add plant protein to your diet. You're able to do an easy recipe. That's the way I say to always start. If you're feeling intimidated and saying, "I don't really know how to be healthier." Choose one recipe. One thing you're working on and build from there. You don't have to become vegan tomorrow, you can add one plantbased recipe to your rotation. Learn one recipe, learn another one later. But starting with those small steps can really make you a difference in your health, make a difference in how confident you feel in the kitchen, and kind of take you on that purposeful health path you're going down. Thank you so much Chef.

>> Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

>> This is- this is fantastic. You guys have been fabulous by the way. Is there a TV show in their future or what? [APPLAUSE]