Culinary arts and nutrition encompass the application of nutrition knowledge and cooking skills to develop nutritious dishes that also integrate the multi-sensory attributes of foods. Recently,the integration of the nutrition and culinary arts fields is expanding as dining faclities resort to create flavourful, nutritionally-adequate menus. The dishes created while healthy, must also be appealing and tasty.Culinary nutrition involves the incorporation of healthy cooking methods to maintain the nutrient profile of most dishes, while also including various nutrient-dense foods in addition to considering consumers’ dietary requirements. Culinary arts when combined with nutrition aim to accommodate consumer preferences for foods that are fresh, nutritious, aromatic, and with locally-available ingredients. The chef must possess good nutrition and food service background to properly prepare the desired meals. It also involves preparing dishes for individuals with different conditions while still aiming to maintain the desirable sensory aspects.
In essence, culinary nutrition involves:
Designing menus priorly by aiming to develop dishes with fresh available ingredients.
Taking account the portion sizes of meals served. Just providing what is enough.
Limiting the use of processed ingredients even when trying to maximize flavour and instead using fresh spices and condiments.
Including a variety of food groups in each meal.
Opting for healthy cooking techniques that preserve the nutrition value of cooked foods i.e. stir-frying, stewing, roasting and steaming.