What motivates you to make the food purchases you do – whether at the grocery store or in a restaurant or during lunch in your employer’s cafeteria?  For most of us, the top three factors affecting our food purchases are:

Taste, Price, and Nutrition

For some, it may appear that taste and good nutrition can’t go together.  It’s true that there are some foods that are so sinfully delicious, it’s hard to imagine that healthy foods could possibly taste that good.  But the great thing is that we live in a country with a reputation of being a melting point in a variety of cultural areas, including food.

The power of this is to take the flavors and essence of the food styles of our melting pot and combine them with core food ingredients bursting with good nutrition.  To help accomplish this, McCormick launched their Flavor Forecast 2011, which highlights new and compelling flavor combinations to try.  Some of their flavor recommendations and how you might combine them to get the best of both taste and nutrition are:

• Roasted Curry Powder and Wild Mushrooms. Undoubtedly you have a variety of vegetables somewhere in your refrigerator.  Pull out whatever you have – slice it, dice it, stir fry it (using a oil spray or the smallest amount of canola oil possible), add in any type of wild mushroom and a pinch of curry powder for a great side dish to any meal.
• Thyme and Stone Fruits. While stone fruits – peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries – aren’t in season right now, you can opt for the frozen version.  Chop and add a bit of thyme for a salsa to go with grilled shrimp or grill peach halves, sprinkle with thyme and serve with a bit of plain Greek yogurt for a satisfying, yet healthy, sweet treat.
• Cilantro and nut butters. Throw a combination of unsalted walnuts, almonds, and/or cashews into the blender, and then add the cilantro to make a great dipping sauce for grilled, skinless turkey breast.

What tricks do you use to find the right balance between healthy and delicious food?

Visit www.nuval.com to find nutritious ingredients to blend with your favorite flavors.

Sometimes I wonder if we think enough about the changes in social structure that have occurred over the past 50 years and the impact it has on eating habits and health outcomes. 

Take a trip back to the 1950s, and think June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver (if you’re too young to know the show, visit http://www.leaveittobeaver.org/).  Her days were spent managing her family.  This was her job.  It was most likely she didn’t have her own car.  Aprons were something she wore every day.  An afterschool snack was ready to go when the boys walked through the door at the end of the day as was a cocktail and dinner when her husband got home from work. 

Fast forward to today, where roughly 60% of women work (75% full-time, 25% part-time).   With the economy as it is, there is even more pressure on all employees, including women, to work longer hours and to do more with less in the office.  At the same time, mom is still the primary manager of the family and the household.  So while she’s headed out the door to work, her other duties have only dropped slightly in comparison to what June did 50 years ago. 

Do we really believe this doesn’t impact how often dinner gets put on the table, whether kids are eating breakfast before school, what gets put on the dinner plate, and whether there are fruits and vegetables in the house? 

Visit www.nuval.com to see a system that scores all foods, even convenience items that help today’s mom get dinner on the table.  Even June would have used NuVal.

A decade ago, I had the opportunity to work with one of the greatest group of people, the nutrition and labeling team at The Pillsbury Company.  Each individual had a unique set of talents, skills and personality traits that perfectly complemented each other.  And everyone respected what each person brought to the table.  It was great.

As you can imagine, many people who work in the food industry are what I would call “foodies.”  They are interested in pretty much every aspect of food, and in general, love to cook.  There were, however, periodic exceptions to this last part, and as you can imagine, it was met by shock and horror by the rest of us.

One day, Missy – one of our 20-something coworkers – asked a question.  “How do you make corn-on-the-cob?”  You can’t imagine how many jaws in the group dropped open.  After all, corn-on-the-cob doesn’t even require a recipe.  How could a person not know how to make corn-on-the-cob?  It was later revealed that Missy didn’t know how to cook squash either.

In reality, I think there are a lot of people like Missy.   People have now become “meal assemblers” vs. cooks.  The microwave is the preferred cooking tool.  Ovens never need to be cleaned because they’re never used.

The question, though, is whether this impacts nutrition or not.  Does a movement toward meal assembly mean that healthy eating habits are out of reach?

The concern with the lack of cooking habits is that it is directly attached to an overall lack of understanding of food.  If kids are not taught to cook, it’s likely they are not being taught the basics about food.  It’s about the total experience with food.  Touching it, understanding it, learning to appreciate the various flavors, how they all fit together, and as a part of this, the nutrition that different foods impart.

The other concern with a lack of cooking knowledge is that these people tend to eat out more, and it’s definitely been shown that foods eaten out contain more calories and less overall nutrition than foods prepared at home.

So what can you do, if you are one of those people who just never learned to cook?  Consider these options:

• Community ed programs often offer basic cooking classes at very reasonable prices.
• Find a cooking mentor.  There are many individuals who would love to share their experience of cooking with you.  Is there a retired, grandma-type in your neighborhood?  She’d be a great cooking mentor!
• Cooking doesn’t need to be difficult.  On the internet, you can find many 30-minute or less, 5 ingredient or less recipes.  These are great starting points.
• Have a cooking party!  Invite all your other friends who don’t have much experience cooking, and require that they bring ingredients for a recipe to cook and share.  Focus the party on cooking a meal together.  In the midst of all the fun, you’ll be learning how to cook.
• Rent the movie Julie and Julia.   It will definitely inspire you to cook!

Visit www.nuval.com for trade up options in your new favorite recipes.