- State one topic in nutrition that interests you and one that you would like to learn more about.
Having been introduced to the fascinating world food science in our Theory classes, I’d love to learn more about food substitution and what kinds of tasty options there are for the baking world. We use massive quantities of butter, eggs, and dairy products; and although these are what make the baked goods so delicious, it would be interesting to find lower fat, healthy alternatives, while hopefully maintaining taste and mouth feel.
- Do you feel, currently and in the future, nutrition will play a more important role in the culinary industry? Explain why or why not?
I feel nutrition will definitely play a more important role in the future of the baking and culinary industry. Although vegetarians have been around for decades and decades, there seems to be a recent upswing of folks who are concerned about animal welfare, as well as the pesticides and insecticides that go into the farming and manufacturing of our fresh produce (myself included) – veganism is on the rise, as is the “foodie” Instagram generation. With the collision of those two worlds, there is already a shift occurring in the baking and culinary world in terms of the demand for viable, healthy options for delicious eating. I feel this trend of more mindful and ethical eating will continue along its current trajectory.
- Choose a credible nutrition website and a website that may not be credible and compare three (3) ways how you can determine the credibility of the website.
I chose Dieticians of Canada for my credible website: https://www.dietitians.ca/; and for my not so credible website, I found https://www.mercola.com/.
The Dieticians of Canada is credible first of all because it is a professional association made up of over 5000 members – actual dieticians – at local, provincial, and federal levels, and are governed by a Board of Directors. Dr. Mercola worked as a pharm tech in the 1970s; he is an osteopathic physician, as well as a licensed Physician and Surgeon for the state of Illinois (we know because he has provided a photo of said license). I was not able to find any Board of Directors or other overseers at all for Mercola. The second way in which the Dieticians’ website is credible, is that they often reference Health Canada, EatRight Ontario, the World Health Organization (amongst others); and almost always provide these types of trustworthy resources for their posts about diet and healthy living. Dr. Mercola also provides resources and references, but they are mainly other articles – some from medical journals, and some from other clinics or health websites. His material seems to be a mashup of other peoples’ information. Finally, Dr. Mercola sells supplements, which is a bit of a red flag for me. His website is vast, so it was difficult to research how often the recommendation of these supplements come up in his articles, but it seems highly suspect. He also sells fish, because why wouldn’t you buy your sockeye salmon fillets from a website? The Dieticians of Canada website sell items as well, but they are mostly books and manuals on healthy eating, as well as some posters with things like “Eating well is a gift to my baby” on them. In summary, the Dieticians of Canada website is well informed, informative, and credible. Dr. Mercola, although undoubtedly well intentioned, seems like a bit of a modern day huckster.
Closing Arrested Development GIF, Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/reactiongifs/comments/2jh4ko/mrw_the_boy_scouts_try_to_sell_me_popcorn_come/
Having My Cake 