The 4 Pillars of Food
I am proud and privileged to serve as a member of the advisory board for Food Day, the brainchild of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Executive Director, Michael Jacobson. In my role, I am in the august company of many of my most esteemed colleagues, and even the likes of Connecticut's own Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a veritable icon of what representative government should, and could, be. I don't think my wife will be at all upset when I say: I love Rosa DeLauro! There, again, I am in good company.
Speaking of my wife, Catherine, she served as the phenomenally able production manager for our signature Food Day event at Yale this weekend. I served as the master of ceremonies.
On a beautiful, crisp, fall day in New England, in front of Yale's striking Sterling Library, hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the four pillars of food: taste, health, sustainability and vitality. In other words, food should taste good, it should be good for our health, it should be good to the planet and it should be put to good use by vitalizing physical activity.
We had experts to address each of these areas. Perhaps the first priority for most people when they think of food is taste, so we can start there. Our event featured a variety of delicious and innovative fare, notably a selection of delightful soups just right for a brisk day, from the culinary stars of Yale's dining services. If great culinary talent and university dining don't immediately seem an obvious fusion, then Yale is an exception. The head of Yale dining is Certified Master Chef Rafi Taherian. The director of culinary excellence at Yale -- and it tells you something that there even is such a position -- is Certified Master Chef Ron DeSantis. It was in Ron's expert hands that the buck for Saturday's fare stopped, and all of us who sampled it are grateful it was so!
We did, just the same, have outside culinary talent as well. In this group was Catherine herself, a cook rather than a chef, but a brilliant cook if I may say so. Catherine spoke briefly about the commitment we share to "love food that loves us back," and to pay that opportunity forward via her website, Cuisinicity.com. We were delighted and honored to have with us Chef Bun Lai, known to many from his television appearances, but know to us New Haven locals for his restaurant, Miya's Sushi. As owner and chef at this New Haven landmark, Bun combines a phenomenal menu with his passion for environmental stewardship. An example? He is an expert diver, and routinely probes the waters of the Long Island Sound for species known to be invasive there, turning those preferentially into signature dishes.
Finally, we had the special privilege of welcoming Chef Candice Kumai, who, among other things, is routinely found judging the talents of other chefs on popular cooking shows. Candice offered her own wise words about eating for health, delight and sustainability; and appended, in hilarious fashion, the wise words of her mother -- impersonating that soft, yet stern, Japanese-accented English. She signed copies of her new book, " Clean Green Eats," now on proud display in the Katz house.
We were delighted as well to have HealthCorps, an organization we have collaborated with before to showcase our educational music videos, represented in the person of Michelle Marquez. HealthCorps is reaching thousands of high school students across the country with an innovative peer mentoring program, delivering messages consonant with our Food Day agenda, and with our UnJunk Yourself videos.
While almost everyone who participated shared a devotion to all four pillars of food, the environmental focus was addressed with particular insight by Mark Bomford, director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project. Mark painted a promising, hopeful picture of the future in which we produce nutritious, delicious food in a manner that actually removes carbon from the atmosphere, rather than adding it; that produces rich soil, rather than eroding it. I was encouraged, inspired and deeply moved by his brief, but compelling, account of how things might be.
Finally, as noted, we made the case that food should be put to good use, as the fuel it is for the body. That good use is vital activity, and we could think of no better way to showcase that message than with the infectious fun of dance. We had a hip-hop crew from nearby Sacred Heart University. Under the supervision of Sean Flanagan, president of the U.S. Tournament of Dance, we featured members of the U.S. Acrobatic and Dance Team and even the current Miss Dance of the United States, Victoria Fiore, who danced a beautiful solo. We then captured the energy of the crowd and got them all moving along with our latest music video. My son Gabe, our front man, taught the crowd some simple choreography, with assistance from two of his sisters who joined us from college for the occasion.
The event was great. The question left in its wake is: What now?
Well, for one thing, all of us involved with this challenging -- but ultimately very rewarding -- Food Day event are already talking about our plans for next year. For another, our event served, as all Food Day events are intended to, as an opportunity to think about the importance of food in our lives, and our related priorities. Food Day is as much about food for thought, as it is about food.
I encourage those who don't already to support CSPI and Food Day, and to sign up for CSPI's Nutrition Action Healthletter. If you don't already follow the work of our panelists, please do. If you are looking for delicious, nutritious and environmentally-conscious recipes, check out Candice's wonderful book and Catherine's beautiful -- and freely available -- website. Think about the importance of food, care about its many implications and express your opinions. There is no reason the "food supply" should be anything other than what the food demand wants it to be. Food Day is a reminder to think about that, and take action accordingly. If we are unified, our intentions for the future of food can be imbued with the strength of pillars. Food Day could be every day.
Those, I think, are the principal implications of our event, and Food Day in general. There is, perhaps, one more, if I may borrow from Lee Ann Womack: We hope you'll dance!
Authors note: The Yale Food Day event was sponsored by Turn the Tide, Inc., a federally-authorized 501c3 nonprofit devoted to ending the epidemics of obesity and chronic disease. Learn more here .
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, is the founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center; President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Childhood Obesity; Chief Science Officer for NuVal LLC; and director of the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital. A clinician, researcher, author, inventor, journalist, and media personality, Dr. Katz is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including an honorary doctoral degree; widely supported nominations for the position of U.S. Surgeon General; recognition by Greatist.com as one of the 100 most influential people in health and fitness in the world for the past 3 years; and inclusion by LinkedIN as one of the original 150 INfluencers. He has authored over 200 scientific papers and chapters, 15 books, and well over 1,000 columns and blogs- with a resulting social media following of roughly 500,000. A two-time diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a board-certified specialist in Preventive Medicine/Public Health, he is recognized globally for expertise in nutrition, weight management and the prevention of chronic disease. Dr. Katz has delivered addresses in numerous countries on four continents, and has been acclaimed by colleagues as the "poet laureate" of health promotion.
