WSU class teaches hands-on healthy eating
Ryan Moser, right, looks for the right piece of garnish from a pile of cilantro as he puts the finishing touches on his cranberry salsa during the Exploration in Culinary and Food Science course at Weber State University Davis on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. The new course has a special emphasis on finding sustainable ways to produce and consume food.
Janalee Little fills a glass with mango-lime water during the Exploration in Culinary and Food Science course at Weber State University Davis on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. Every time the class meets, the prepare a new flavor of water to drink while they cook.
Ryan Moser made a cranberry salsa with cranberries, cilantro, green onions and jalape–os during the fruit lab in his Exploration in Culinary and Food Science course at Weber State University Davis on Tuesday, June 2, 2015.
Debi Baird, left and Kyria Boehm prepare a picante three melon salad during the Exploration in Culinary and Food Science course at Weber State University Davis on Tuesday, June 2, 2015.
Lalaina Strate, left and Janalee Little prepare a strawberry rhubarb sauce during the Exploration in Culinary and Food Science course at Weber State University Davis on Tuesday, June 2, 2015.
LAYTON — Students at a Weber State University class are learning how to not only eat healthier but to prepare more delicious foods too.
The class, called Exploration in Culinary and Food Science, teaches the students how to apply healthy principles in eating in ways that taste good and are doable.
“It’s one thing to say that you need a more plant-based diet,” said Debi Baird of Layton. “It’s another to see how you can make that happen quickly and affordably.”
Last week, Baird was making Picante Three Melon Salad as part of a food lab for the class.
A new class that was first taught in January, the course has gained some popularity and will be offered again in the fall.
In the future, the class will include lessons on sustainability too as plans are in place to build a greenhouse to grow foods to be used in the course.
Adjunct instructor for this summer’s class and an organizer for the course, Heidi Jenkins of Brigham City, said the greenhouse will prove to be convenient as well as a good teaching tool.
An example she pointed out was the need to use canned pumpkin in last week’s cooking lab.
“You can’t buy pumpkins at certain times of the year,” she said. “If we could grow our own, we could have them.”
The class includes a full day of food science learning each week. Students gain knowledge of vitamins and minerals in a morning class and then they cook in the food lab in the afternoon.
Baird, who is hoping to get accepted into the WSU nursing program, said it’s a great complement to a nutrition class she took another semester.
And she believes the knowledge she is gaining will help her to help others as well. A Girl Scout leader in Salt Lake City, Baird said she wants to pass on her learning to the girls in the troop.
“When macaroni and cheese is four for $1, what are you going to feed your kids on a budget?,” she said.
Baird noted that macaroni and cheese takes 15 minutes to make. But she also pointed to the fact that vegetable stir fry can be made in 15 minutes.
“If you don’t get people that information, they won’t know to make it,” she said.
Kyria Boehm of Syracuse said she enjoys working with other students in the class.
“It’s one thing to do it alone,” she said of the cooking exercises. “It’s another to be getting a second opinion.”
“You get to learn about all the cool ways you can make things healthy with different ingredients,” said William Soule of Clearfield, a health promotion student who is getting a minor degree in nutrition.
He said he likes the hands-on nature of his learning and being able to experience first-hand the topics talked about in class.
Soule was partnering with Cailyn Holcomb of Layton last week to make pumpkin bread. Holcomb said she’s changed the way she eats as a result of what she’s learned.
“I’ve started to make green smoothies,” she said, noting that she now adds spinach, kale and flax seeds to her blended drinks.
Holcomb also is studying health promotion and nutrition.
And she said demonstrating such lifestyle choices will be important for her as she sets out on a career path with the goal of changing eating habits.
“There are kids 10-years-old who are getting Type II Diabetes,” she said. “We are the future nutritionists. To do that, we have to be healthy ourselves.”
You may reach reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228. Follow her on Twitter at JaNaeFrancisSE. Like her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SEJaNaeFrancis.