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What’s on the MENU? Calorie labelling!

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what's on the menu blog march 2017

Have you noticed the new calorie labelling on Ontario chain restaurant menus? Operators, servers and consumers are coming to grips with the new reality of revealing calories in a serving of food. We’ve been busy moderating partnership events and engaging with stakeholders about the challenges of the new menu labelling. The events were in collaboration with Canadian Association of Foodservice Professionals (CAFP), Restaurants Canada and Dietitians of Canada.

A shout out to fellow dietitian Donna Bottrell who did a terrific job organizing the events, and to Nancy Hewitt President CAFP Toronto for her support.

CAFP lucia moderator event
From left: Donna Bottrell, organizer of the event; Nancy Hewitt, CFE, President of the CAFP Toronto Branch; Susan Somerville, Dean, from Humber College, and Panelist Jamie Rillet and Moderator Lucia Weiler.

Here is a snapshot of what we heard:

  • ‘Medium and small chains are looking for guidance and consistency from the Government.’ Jamie Rilett, Restaurants Canada
  • ‘It’s challenging for a server to explain the calorie range for a serving size. More support and education would be helpful’ K.B.Bose, Shoeless Joe’s
  • ‘There is the nutrient variable to consider and educate about. How to address the fact that milk has more calories than pop but it’s also more nutritious?’ Katie Jessop RD
  • ‘Collaboration is needed between food professionals: chefs, dietitians and nutritionists.  And we are eating foods- not just one food. Food combinations in menus can help create healthier options. Nutrition professionals can assist operators and consumers.’   Lucia Weiler RD
  • ‘A lot of time was spent by Aramark in the initial analysis…they made sure to standardize recipes and then tested and tested which led to a recipe database.’ Karen Williams, Aramark
  • ‘Menu calorie labelling is just the beginning. There is a future importance for all aspects of nutrition and food, especially sustainable processing. Millennial consumers are very conscious about the’ what’ and the ‘how’ of food.’ K.B.Bose, Shoeless Joe’s

For more stakeholder views and participant feedback please contact us. We would be happy to help your team formulate unique insights that integrate our Registered Dietitian expertise in food and nutrition and provide you with solutions that both foodservice professionals and consumers can use.

Veggies are Trending for Culinary Inspirations

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Pictured: Cohen’s Broccoli Dogs - grilled and smoked broccoli sautéed in broccoli oil, and served with a side of broccoli kraut and broccoli rabe chips.

Pictured: Cohen’s Broccoli Dogs – grilled and smoked broccoli sautéed in broccoli oil, and served with a side of broccoli kraut and broccoli rabe chips.

“Anyone can cook a hamburger, leave vegetables to the professionals.”

That’s Amanda Cohen’s mantra. The Canadian born chef and owner of Dirt Candy restaurant in NYC is on to something with her vegetable inspired menu. Here are highlights from our interview with Cohen.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Cohen: I was born in Ottawa but grew up in Toronto. I came to New York to go to NYU and never looked back. I wet to the Natural Gourmet Institute’s Chef’s Training Program and after that I worked in pretty much every single restaurant I could for about 10 years. I realized that no one was going to give me a chance to cook the kind of food I wanted to cook, so I opened the original Dirt Candy in 2008. It’s been going like gangbusters ever since.

What inspired you to focus on vegetables only?

Cohen: There are hundreds of steak houses, thousands of seafood restaurants, millions of hamburger restaurants, but Dirt Candy is the only restaurant that only focuses on vegetables. I’m not making vegetarian food, and I’m not making fish with a lot of vegetable sides. I’m cooking vegetables. I’m sitting here in my kitchen and running it like a lab, seeing how far I can push each vegetable and what kind of flavor I can get out of them. No one else is doing this, so for me, it’s like being in the Wild West. There are no rules, and no one telling me what I should do. I love it!

What are vegetables so tricky to work with?

Cohen: Vegetables are tricky because they have no fat…fat carries flavor, so you have to add [flavor] yourself. Also, vegetables have a high water content that you have to get rid of somehow when you cook them. And finally, vegetables have a uniform texture throughout and don’t have the different flavours and textures that say a big chunk of steak will have. To make vegetables taste good, you really have to work.

Tell us about your Broccoli Dogs!

Cohen: I spent three months trying to make them work before throwing everything out and starting from scratch, which took another four weeks. I experimented with 38 different doughs before finding the right one I use for the bun.

Any plans to open a Dirt Candy in Canada sometime??

Cohen: I wish!