Sue:
How do you see American cuisine today?

Nancy:
American cuisine is now very dynamic and multi-ethnic. When I was a small child, canned chow mein were about as exotic as anyone I knew ever got! Today, I might fix some sort of Indian-inspired curry one night, tacos the next, pasta the next, and a stir-fry the next. The cuisine is also changing all the time, as foreign, formerly exotic ingredients become commonplace and people travel more widely and want to bring these food experience to their own tables. It's a great time to be a food professional.

Sue:
Many people want to eat well. They want to eat low fat foods with taste. Despite this many people do not cook low fat. What is the biggest barrier for these folks?

Nancy:
I think that the biggest barrier for people who want to prepare lower-fat fare is their concern that it won't taste as good as the regular, fatty stuff. There is some reason for concern, because if you just remove the fat without making certain other adjustments, a dish is likely to taste lacking. I always tell people that for everything I take out, I put something else back to compensate and keep the recipe appealing. Since most people aren't trained in how to do this and it can be tricky, the best approach is to rely on well tested "healthy" recipes from knowledgeable professionals in cookbooks or food magazines. When people ask my husband if he minds having to always eat low fat, he says no, that our meals are plenty tasty and he doesn't ever feel deprived. And he is not just saying that to flatter the cook! Aside from the health benefits of eating lower-fat and lower-cholesterol fare, we both like the fact that eater lighter helps keep off unwanted pounds.

Introduction | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 |