The farm stand is becoming the new apothecary, dispensing apples — not to mention artichokes, asparagus and arugula — to fill a novel kind of prescription.
Doctors at three health centers in Massachusetts have begun advising patients to eat “prescription produce” from local farmers’ markets, in an effort to fight obesity in children of low-income families. Now they will give coupons amounting to $1 a day for each member of a patient’s family to promote healthy meals.
“A lot of these kids have a very limited range of fruits and vegetables that are acceptable and familiar to them. Potentially, they will try more,” said Dr. Suki Tepperberg, a family physician at Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, one of the program sites. “The goal is to get them to increase their consumption of fruit and vegetables by one serving a day.”
The effort may also help farmers’ markets compete with fast-food restaurants selling dollar value meals. Farmers’ markets do more than $1 billion in annual sales in the United States, according to the Agriculture Department.
Massachusetts was one of the first states to promote these markets as hubs of preventive health. In the 1980s, for example, the state began issuing coupons for farmers’ markets to low-income women who were pregnant or breast-feeding or for young children at risk for malnourishment. Thirty-six states now have such farmers' market nutrition programs aimed at women and young children.
Thomas M. Menino, the mayor of Boston, said he believed the new children’s program, in which doctors write vegetable "prescriptions" to be filled at farmers’ markets, was the first of its kind. Doctors will track participants to determine how the program affects their eating patterns and to monitor health indicators like weight and body mass index, he said.
“When I go to work in the morning, I see kids standing at the bus stop eating chips and drinking a soda,” Mr. Menino said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I hope this will help them change their eating habits and lead to a healthier lifestyle.”
Read the rest of the story here.
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
"Such a Pity to Leave Vegetables Only for Vegetarians"
"We need to have more of a relationship with vegetables," says chef Alain Ducasse, as he serves some delicate slices of beetroot, carrot and celeriac that have been gently poached in a light vegetable stock, and coated with a Montgomery cheddar gratin, during an intimate lunch for eight at the Dorchester hotel in London, where his three Michelin star restaurant is housed. He is showing off a new signature dish -- the Cookpot -- which focuses on seasonal vegetables.
Mr. Ducasse is just one of a number of top chefs who, while still offering meat dishes, is placing vegetables center stage, offering creative vegetable dishes and haute vegetarian tasting menus that start at £95.
"Vegetables are important to me," says Mr. Ducasse. "I grew up at my grandmother's farm in Gascony, always eating seasonal vegetables. It can actually be more challenging preparing vegetables than meat. You have to let them speak for themselves."
Two decades ago in the Louis XV in Monaco, Mr. Ducasse, who holds 19 Michelin stars world-wide, created a vegetable tasting menu where animal stock or jus could be used in the preparation of the dish. "I've been trying to push the trend for 20 years," he says. "And now it is slowly changing." He has just launched a totally vegetarian tasting menu in London and may follow suit with his other restaurants. Typical dishes on his new vegetarian tasting menu include a soft-boiled egg with buttery sautéed wild mushrooms and a creamy broad bean velouté. In the first dish, the boiled egg is placed on a "royale" (a savory egg custard) consisting of cream, egg and chopped mushrooms and finished with cooked and raw mushrooms. Meanwhile, in his broad bean velouté, fresh baby broad beans are slowly cooked with olive oil and vegetable stock, before being thickened with whipped cream and topped with crispy croutons.
In another dish, homemade artisan pasta is cooked in spring onion, green peas and vegetable broth before being covered with mashed peas, shaved black truffles and parmesan.
Another chef drawing from his bucolic upbringing in France is Alexis Gauthier, chef and owner of his eponymous new restaurant in Soho, London. "I come from Avignon, and most of my food intake was vegetables," says Mr. Gauthier. "There was always the expectation of the different seasons and what fruit and vegetables [each] would bring." Like a number of these chefs, Mr. Gauthier isn't offering a purely vegetarian tasting menu (although he will on request), but a menu designed to show off vegetables in the best possible way, even if it means cooking them in meat or chicken stock. This can include salsify cooked in a rich beef jus and delicate Cappelletti pasta made with confit of tomatoes, in which tomatoes are marinated overnight in olive oil and thyme until the tomatoes take on an intense, sweet flavor. A heady, al dente truffle risotto is accompanied by treacly brown butter and shavings of aged parmesan. Mr. Gauthier's velvety, chilled light green pea velouté is poured over a piece of smooth soya-marinated tofu, to create a summer dish bursting with freshness.
"I love vegetables but I am not a vegetarian," says Mr. Gauthier. "I thought it was such a pity to leave vegetables only for vegetarians. I wanted to develop a side that makes vegetables the star. If they have the right texture you can play with vegetables like meat or fish," he says.
Read the rest of the story here.
Mr. Ducasse is just one of a number of top chefs who, while still offering meat dishes, is placing vegetables center stage, offering creative vegetable dishes and haute vegetarian tasting menus that start at £95.
"Vegetables are important to me," says Mr. Ducasse. "I grew up at my grandmother's farm in Gascony, always eating seasonal vegetables. It can actually be more challenging preparing vegetables than meat. You have to let them speak for themselves."
Two decades ago in the Louis XV in Monaco, Mr. Ducasse, who holds 19 Michelin stars world-wide, created a vegetable tasting menu where animal stock or jus could be used in the preparation of the dish. "I've been trying to push the trend for 20 years," he says. "And now it is slowly changing." He has just launched a totally vegetarian tasting menu in London and may follow suit with his other restaurants. Typical dishes on his new vegetarian tasting menu include a soft-boiled egg with buttery sautéed wild mushrooms and a creamy broad bean velouté. In the first dish, the boiled egg is placed on a "royale" (a savory egg custard) consisting of cream, egg and chopped mushrooms and finished with cooked and raw mushrooms. Meanwhile, in his broad bean velouté, fresh baby broad beans are slowly cooked with olive oil and vegetable stock, before being thickened with whipped cream and topped with crispy croutons.
In another dish, homemade artisan pasta is cooked in spring onion, green peas and vegetable broth before being covered with mashed peas, shaved black truffles and parmesan.
Another chef drawing from his bucolic upbringing in France is Alexis Gauthier, chef and owner of his eponymous new restaurant in Soho, London. "I come from Avignon, and most of my food intake was vegetables," says Mr. Gauthier. "There was always the expectation of the different seasons and what fruit and vegetables [each] would bring." Like a number of these chefs, Mr. Gauthier isn't offering a purely vegetarian tasting menu (although he will on request), but a menu designed to show off vegetables in the best possible way, even if it means cooking them in meat or chicken stock. This can include salsify cooked in a rich beef jus and delicate Cappelletti pasta made with confit of tomatoes, in which tomatoes are marinated overnight in olive oil and thyme until the tomatoes take on an intense, sweet flavor. A heady, al dente truffle risotto is accompanied by treacly brown butter and shavings of aged parmesan. Mr. Gauthier's velvety, chilled light green pea velouté is poured over a piece of smooth soya-marinated tofu, to create a summer dish bursting with freshness.
"I love vegetables but I am not a vegetarian," says Mr. Gauthier. "I thought it was such a pity to leave vegetables only for vegetarians. I wanted to develop a side that makes vegetables the star. If they have the right texture you can play with vegetables like meat or fish," he says.
Read the rest of the story here.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
CARROT SOUFFLÉ
If you have trouble getting your kids to eat their vegetables, try this recipe.
Not only will they eat their carrots, they'll ask for more.
(Serves 8)
2 pounds carrots, chopped
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon mixed with
1 Tablespoon white sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash. To the carrots add melted butter, white sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix well and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature
Not only will they eat their carrots, they'll ask for more.
(Serves 8)
2 pounds carrots, chopped
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon mixed with
1 Tablespoon white sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash. To the carrots add melted butter, white sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix well and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature
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