A Plant-Based Conversation with Culinary Arts Professor Kathleen Polenz
A little over a year ago I made the decision to educate myself about the food production process. Shocked by what I learned, I decided to take the jump into a plant-based lifestyle, cold turkey — no pun intended. Learning about animal mistreatment is just the beginning. Our eating habits have an effect on our bodies directly and they have a major impact on our environment. Removing animal products from your diet is so much more than protecting the animals; it affects everything in our ecosystem.
In America, we are raised to believe that meat is the only resource that can provide sufficient protein and that cow’s milk is our best source of calcium. Buying into this myth is easy with images of free grazing cows and happy farmers slapped onto just about every dairy or meat product in the grocery store. Unfortunately, these images don’t project a true picture. Most of these animals live in unsanitary conditions, which creates an unhealthy product that we buy into.
My conversation with Chef Kathleen Polenz, a professor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, has covered everything from the history of human dietary practices, to the fast-food plant-based options we have today, and the importance of maintaing a well-balanced diet. In 1987 she was awarded the Ginsberg’s Award and the following year she was awareded the Taste of the Hudson Valley for appetizer and soup. She is also the author of Vegetarian Cooking at Home and a current member of Women Chef and Restaurateurs and the American Culinary Federation. In the past she had also served as the vice president and committee chair to the Mid-Hudson Culinary Association.
This mass production of animal products certainly isn’t how it started out. “Humans started out as hunter-gatherers,” Polenz said. They only started hunting animals after they created weapons. Until then, humans lived off the land and survived on a raw vegan diet.” We evolved to be this way based on violence, not because of necessity. Today, with the graphic information available and glaring issues with our planet, we should be taking a step back. The vegan diet is no longer the “poor college student diet of ramen noodles” as Polenz puts it. “It is heavily marketed and has become egocentric.” Restricitng oneself to a vegan diet is a personal choice and a big commitment to make if you’re not a fan of cooking at home. A lot of people have been cutting out animal products from their lives because of dietary, ethical, or environmental reasons, or a combination of all three. Whatever the reason, it has to be self-motivating.
A lot of chain services, such as Panera, have begun to “clean up their menu” for ethical and monetary reasons. According to Sara Burnett, the Panera director of wellness, they will be adding more plant-based proteins to the menu and using only crate-free farming methods. This is hardly a surprise, as they were one of the first companies to hault the use of antibiotics in poultry.
In reaction to this more mindful approach to food, several juice presses have been popping up on the market for those consumers that are balancing a busy lifestlye. Businesses like Jamba Juice, Liquiteria and Pressed are very important. “We all need to rely on convenience at a certain point of our lives. But you should be aware of what is in these drinks. A lot of them have ingredients that are not really serving you.” According to Livestrong.com, consumers need to pay attention to added sugar. The add-ins and toppings, which include sherbert and yogurt, are what give these fast-food options a bad rap. As consumers, we need to be aware of what we are putting into our bodies, which can be a challenge when eating out. Balance is key.
In order to get the best nutrients, people need to eat as little prepared food as possible because as soon as we cook the raw vegetables, they begin to lose their core nutritional values. We must also factor in the time between harvesting to when the produce makes it to our plate. “Items could be stable on a grocery shelf for two weeks, which at that point you would get the same benefits with a V8 drink,” said Polenz.
The thought of going plant-based for many is unfathomable, but with an increase in the number of animal-free products, the adjustment has become seemingly easier for those looking to make the switch. Polenz, however, is able to look past all of these new vegan products showing up on grocery shelves. “I have a lot of mixed feelings about the various non-dairy products. The nut-based creamers, for example, I think have value. They certainly serve as a viable replacement to cow’s milk. However, you become a label reader and lose focus on your overall nutrition. There needs to be more clarity on the nutritional value on what you’re reading. A lot of these dairy-free products are filled with preservatives.” So how does one avoid this? “The closer you can be to buying organic products, the cleaner your produce will be. There will be less preservatives and less enhancers.”
The CIA opened its doors to the Hudson Valley in 1970 and within the past couple of years they started opening pop-up restaurants. In 2015 Pangea served as the first pop-up restaurant. The menu focused on a diverse array of cultural influences and the importance of conscious dining as our world’s resources continue to be compromised. The purpose of the restaurant was to educate diners on the production process of the food they consume, as well as the short- and long-term effects those actions have on the planet and ourselves. The cuisine offered dishes that were plant and grain focused with great nutritional value.
Polenz was the brainchild of this pop-up. “We partnered with Harvard School of Public Health after Menus of Change took place. At this annual two-day conference we discuss the values of various cuisines in response to the pressures on the planet for food production. Pangea’s menu was built based on an environmental perspective.”
In looking directly at the environmental impact, “beef and dairy are the worst for the environment. The amount of methane gas released into the environment and the amount of water and land that are used to produce one pound of product is absurd.” Sorry vegetarians, but by including dairy in your diets, our planet will still suffer.
Eating a primarily fruit- and vegetable-based diet is a great first step for someone who wants to make a healthy impact on themselves and their planet, but it is also critical to understand what these different items do to our bodies. All fruits and vegetables have carbohydrates, but there are two types — simple and complex. Generally speaking, “Carbohydrates are totally useless. They might give you fuel, but for example, white sugar is an empty calorie. Unless you burn all of it off, it is stored as body fat. Items like white flour and white rice are simple carbohydrates and are converted to sugar in the body. Complex carbohydrates include whole wheat and quinoa, which still have fiber, nutrients and wheat germ.” The difference is major. Simple carbohydrates process much faster, and therefore, we cannot benefit from any nutrients. Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and provide us with fiber, protein and other vitamins. For example, “Fruits with skin add more fiber to our diets in order to help slow down the digestion process. They are also higher in nutrients.”
For many people, the idea of obtaining a balanced diet without any animal products seems impossible. “You need protein for your bones, teeth, blood and muscles. You can get enough protein with nuts, seeds, soy beans, and a combination of legumes with whole grain. For calcium, you can get this by eating a lot of dark leafy greens.”
When picking produce, color is an easy way to identify the positive value of a fruit and/or vegetable. “The best foods have a high color density. Spinach and kale are better than romaine. Beets are great, as well as carrots, sweet potatoes and berries. The only exception to this rule is mushrooms. They are a member of the ‘G-BOMB,’ which includes greens, beans, onions, and berries. This is the group of foods with the best nutrients. With any of the items, portion control also has to factor in.”
One of the biggest misconceptions with the vegan diet is that by default, everything can be eaten in excess and everything is healthy — and this couldn’t be any further from the truth. Oreos are vegan, and as we know, one of those would cost you over 1,000 jumping jacks to burn off. Worth it? Probably not.
In making the jump to a plant-based diet, a person should plan on shopping frequently. “Produce is picked from the ground before it gets to the grocery shelves. It has been cooled, stored and shipped on a truck or a train for a few days under more refrigeration. Buying new produce about 2–3 days per week would probably be best.”
Okay, so if a plant-based diet requires a consumer to buy produce several times a week, wouldn’t it be significantly more expensive? “I think it depends on how you eat, how you manage your resources and how careful you shop. In the United States more than 25% of our produce ends up in the garbage. We don’t eat our foods before they go bad. We don’t use our resources intelligently sometimes. It’s a huge concern because so much of what we eat can’t be frozen.” A lot of consumers base their shopping around whatever is on sale that week. “If there is a good buy on beets you either have to eat them every day or figure out ways to preserve them.”
Another way to support your local agriculture is by shopping at farmer’s markets. As a consumer, you need to be aware of what vegetables are seasonal in order to spend your money wisely. In February, for example, especially in the north, you should know that none of your vegetables or fruits were picked recently. “Items such as sweet potatoes were harvested in November and kept in cold storage. Overtime, the starches in these items convert into sugars. Apples in New York are only fresh during August and September; the northeast is limited for fresh produce.” There are seasonal calendars available that cater to where you live to help guide you when buying local and organic produce. “It is up to you, then, to figure out how to store foods when there aren’t any available. If you think back to colonial farming practices, at the end of the crop season they would have a surplus and were forced to preserve it. That’s how jam, jelly and pickled items came to be. Idaho potatoes are another great example of a surplus crop. After the farmers sell off as many as they can to individuals and stores, they then put them into cold storage and they are made into hash browns and French fries.”
Moving forward, the most important thing we can do as consumers is understand what we are buying and where it came from. Once you can answer those questions, cast your vote at the checkout.
CHECK IT OUT:
The Egg serves as a “walking example of what we want to promote,” Polenz noted during our conversation. The Egg is open to the public with produce and prepared meals with a focus on vegan and vegetarian options.
