A weekly Column by Chef Daniel Orr

Daniel Orr is Executive Chef at Kitchen Stadium, Santorini Restaurant, Famiglia and the Tapas Lounge and Rum bar at CuisinArt Resort and Spa and is working on “A Chef’s Diet” Cookbook and Cooking in Paradise.

HOW TO TRULY
ENJOY FOOD

Chef Daniel Orr

The basics: chew and swallow - right? Well, those are the basics, but there’s much more to it than that. “Eating” can range from a quick stop just to fuel up to get through a busy day, to a wonderful dinner in your favorite restaurant, to a consuming passion for the whole world of gastronomy. My consuming passion for that world led me from cooking school to cooking and eating through America, Europe, Central and South America, to running a 700-seat complex of restaurants, bars and private dining rooms.

Of course, I always thought I was enjoying food. But when I had to deal with a forty-pound weight gain, I began to question whether I understood what food is really all about. At first I couldn’t imagine curbing my enthusiasm at the dinner table. But I soon learned that enjoying life goes deeper than taste buds. I needed to move back to the passion without the compulsion.
Truly enjoying food isn’t about quantity - even if it’s a great quantity of quality - it’s about both savoring food and understanding it.

I found that keeping a journal of everything I ate - and when - was a very telling tale. I recommend that you, too, use this method to launch a new approach to eating. If you are honest in your journal, it won’t take you long to understand what you are doing wrong and to see that a change is needed. Once you’ve done this for a week or two, see how it matches up with the Chef’s Diet Basics I outline below, and start making the appropriate changes. You will be amazed at how quickly you begin to feel more energetic and clear-minded - and this will bring you more joy than the few seconds those chips rest on your tongue. Once you’ve set out on your new path, you will enjoy the additional foods, flavors and textures that come into your life. Tofu will no longer be that scary white stuff if you turn it into sour cream, cream cheese or mayonnaise. Sprouts and nuts won’t be boring if they are sprinkled over a spicy avocado soup. Burdock, salsify and sunchokes won’t be strangers when you make them into a crispy salad that will blow that old picnic potato salad away.

To truly enjoy food, you must use all your senses. I love dishes that you have to pick up to eat. Shrimp in their shells, artichokes, corn on the cob are all great because you have to slow down and savor them, not just shovel them in. Smooth, creamy, crunchy, chewy - all have to do with the way food touches you on the inside of your mouth. Many say that aroma is fifty percent of tasting. The sight of a beautifully arranged and garnished dish enhances your taste and enjoyment of it, and seeing a smile from the one you are sharing food with make things taste even better. Tasting is the sensation you have when food or drinks dance on your taste buds. Take the time to notice how things taste throughout their journey through your mouth.
There is a start, a middle, and a finish, and every chef tries to make each area sing. When in restaurants or at the home of a great cook take time to appraise and appreciate a dish on the first couple of bites, and then do the same with the addition of wine. Notice sweet, bitter, sour, acid, saline, fatty, spiciness, and herbal flavors and think about how you can take those ideas home and introduce them to your own wonderfully nutritious meals. And believe it or not, hearing is also part of cooking. Listen to vegetables sizzling in olive oil or a stew gently simmering, and the praise of your loving friends and family for a job well done (not to mention the sound of the fire alarm going off when you’ve left something in the oven!).

Truly enjoying food means taking the time to cook a fully satisfying meal or find a restaurant that serves inspiring, healthful and tasty cuisine. But that is just the start. Enjoying food is about using all your senses and noticing all the little details. It isn’t that far a stretch to compare it to enjoying many other amazing things in life: you can’t until you are no longer frightened of them. Enjoying food and a healthful lifestyle at the same time is more than basic: it takes thinking, planning, and passion.
Begin with the attitude that less is more: eating less and enjoying more.

Here are the Chef’s Diet Basics - in a nutshell:
* A balance of protein, carbohydrate and healthy fats
* Eating more organic and naturally produced foods and sea vegetables
* Consuming more complex carbohydrates, and fewer refined carbohydrates like white bread, muffins, crackers and bagels
* Consuming more fruits, vegetables, fiber, legumes, and whole grains
* Reducing consumption of sweets, sugars, carbonated beverages, juices and caffeine
* Consuming more fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids, lean meats, and eliminating meat processed with hormones
* Eliminating processed foods with additives and coloring agents
* Reducing/eliminating snack foods, frozen foods, and canned foods
* Reducing intake of saturated fats/Increasing intake of unsaturated fats. Eliminating consumption of transfats and hydrogenated fats
* Decreasing portion sizes
* Reducing hard alcohol intake
* Exercising daily
* Drinking 32 to 48 ounces of water per day
* Sharing food, wine and the pleasures of the table

I’d love to hear from you. I am collecting recipes and stories for future articles and books and would love to include your favorite family recipes and food memories from the kitchen, the garden or the sea. You can reach me at dorr@cuisinart.comor stop me on the road if you see the CuisinArt Chef Mobile.

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