S6 Ep34: Advocating for the Plate— A Palate’s Plea with Nina Curtis
“I’m an artist on the plate. I’m an advocate on the plate. I get to paint the plate with all these beautiful colors of the food I choose to cook.” — Nina Curtis
Advocating for the plate is a multi-faceted concept at the intersection of aesthetics, quality, and social responsibility. It is an essential part of promoting our health and shaping the well-being of our earthly home and everything in it.
But this movement is not as complicated as it may seem. In fact, the epitome of good health often lies in the simplicity of the food we choose to serve on our plates. By taking advantage of the natural wealth that whole foods have to offer, we can reconnect with our food’s roots and break away from the chains of food politics that denied us our basic right to healthy food.
This week, Justine interviews Nina Curtis, the Director and Executive Chef of Plant’ish, a food company that offers nutritious plant-forward meals that are quick and easy to prepare. Join the conversation as Justine and Nina help us rekindle a love for homemade, nourishing meals and embrace the plant-forward approach while celebrating traditional food practices.
Connect with Nina:
Nina Curtis is recognized as a thought leader and trailblazer in the plant-based culinary movement. Chef Curtis presents lectures and demonstrations on health, nutrition, and whole plant-based foods around the country. She has developed wellness training programs, has set up and led kitchen operations, and has worked closely in conjunction with culinary master gardeners to develop seasonal and gorgeous seed-to-table recipes that are essential to having an exceptional plant strong culinary experience. Chef Curtis has appeared on national TV and she is a guest speaker at several national culinary conferences.
As the former Director and Executive Chef for Adventist Health, Roseville Campus Vitaliz Café, and Culinary Arts, Chef Curtis was at the helm of this dynamic culinary division. From inception, launch, and execution, Chef Curtis recruited, trained, and led both the front and back of the house team, providing delicious and nutritious plant-based meals for associates and guests at the Adventist Health Corporate offices. She also led whole plant-based food educational programs and presented demonstrations to encourage associates and guests to incorporate more whole foods in their diets outside of work, receiving rave reviews.
During her time as Executive Chef at The Ranch at Live Oak, Malibu, the acclaimed seven-day fitness and wellness bootcamp, and the Chief Nutrition Officer for the Ranch Daily a meal subscription service in Southern California, Chef Curtis kept her finger on the pulse of the wellness and plant-based lifestyle trends and incorporated the best of best practices and cuisines for guests to have a full wellness experience.
Chef Curtis has been an avid proponent of a plant-based lifestyle for over twenty years. Her food and beverage background includes working with the Marriott Group, Hilton Hotels, Baxters, Manhattan Beach, the El Caballo, Oakland, Pure Food and Wine in New York, and the Springs Restaurant and Wine Bar, Los Angeles.
An MBA graduate of Pepperdine University, Curtis was also trained at Living Light Culinary Institute, Trinity School of Natural Health, the Natural Gourmet Culinary Institute and she holds a Plant-Based Nutrition certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies, Cornell.
Connect with Plant’Ish Foods
Episode Highlights:
02:36 Plantbased vs Plant Forward
10:37 Food Expands Civilization
21:35 Food is Lifestyle
26:34 Championing Whole Foods
35:23 The Health Aspect of Food
42:51 The White House Dinner
Tweets:
Every bite we take has a direct impact on our health and the environment. Hop in with @jreichman and Plant’Ish Director and Executive Chef, @curtiscomm as they dive into a tasty discourse about embracing the plant-based approach. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Plant’ish #vegan #plantbasedmenu #wholefoods #traditionalcuisine #healthyfoods #foodpolitics
Inspirational Quotes:
06:02 “In any of these entities where we're building things that are bigger than us, it's a collection of people and ideas.” —Justine Reichman
15:58 “The whole goal in hospitality and food is to create this dining experience.” —Nina Curtis
20:54 “The thing that we have to know about food, the tradition of that, generational recipes of dishes that have been passed down— we don't want to lose history.” —Nina Curtis
25:10 “Whether you're building a business or you're making food for your family, you want to make sure that they get access to the best possible ingredients and it tastes good.” —Justine Reichman
28:09 “I'm an artist on the plate. I'm an advocate on the plate. I get to paint the plate with all these beautiful colors of the food I choose to cook.” —Nina Curtis
37:24 “Just eating whole foods and just eating foods at home can drastically change our health and our mental well-being.” —Nina Curtis
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good afternoon, good morning and good evening, I guess. My name is Justine Reichman, and I'm the host of Essential Ingredients. With me today is Nina Curtis. She is the Director and Chef at Plant'ish. Welcome, Nina.
Nina Curtis: Thank you, Justine. It's so nice to be here with you. I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Justine Reichman: Me too. We got to know each other over Instagram just a little, and I was so appreciative of you being so accessible, sharing information and being so supportive. Our Instagram was hacked. I just felt this genuine connection, and I'm very excited to have you here today to be able to learn more about you and share what you're doing.
Nina Curtis: Thank you. Well, I love what you're doing. I think I first came to know your organization as NextGenChef. So if I see CHEF in anything, I'm like, what's going on whether they say you know about chefs, or what a chef's doing that I can get in. Now I know NextGen Purpose, which I love your purpose and what you stand for. I've listened to a few of the podcasts and went, okay, I can get with that ZBiotics and such, and farming regeneration. So all those things align with what I do and what I advocate for. So thank you.
Justine Reichman: Well, I really appreciate that. To know that you've been listening and aware of us, NextGenChef just makes me blush a little. Yes, I'm always happy to hear that because we've evolved. You evolve, we evolve, and we've evolved the community to be able to support our community members in a much broader way. We realize that not everybody is a chef that's changing the future of food, providing information, inspiring and innovating. So we really wanted to make it more all encompassing.
Nina Curtis: I think that's great. I strive for inclusivity and diversity. So we're on the same plate, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say, oh, I like that. We're on the same plate.
Justine Reichman: That's great. First, thank you so much, again, for joining us. And for those that are not familiar with Plant'ish, maybe you can just take a second before we dig deeper to get to know you. Just let everybody know what Plant'ish is so we have a framework where we begin our conversation.
Nina Curtis: Sure, thank you. I've been a vegan for over two decades. Vegan in my lifestyle, and vegan as a commercial professional chef, I'll say. So Plant'ish has been this concept, this working brand when I haven't been, I call it entrepreneur and other corporations. At an early stage in my career, I realize that I'm kind of a product. I was in sales for years and I would tell people, you're the product. People are buying you before they buy anything else. How does your product look on the shelf? So Plant'ish is kind of birthed out of that. I always say in Plant'ish that we plant seeds to really reap the harvest. And so Plant'ish is this collective plantation co culinary arts. So it's a collective of all the things I really do in my life from teaching and lecturing, doing dining experiences. As you know, I was recently at the White House. Prepared the first in the history of White House state dinners, a plant based menu. So I have a lot of first in my life, and I've been able to bring that collective under Plant'ish, not vegan ish, because as with you broadening the scope of the work and being more inclusive and maybe familiar, I chose to call it Plant'ish. But when I say I cook plant based, I cook vegan. So for the record, everyone understands because plant based can be a confusing term these days.
Justine Reichman: People try to forward where it's a smaller percentage of me, I'm not judging anybody. No, the idea is many people think of plant based plants. Well, you could have plant based and then plant forward to yours specifically focused on plants and vegan. So it's forward. It's plant based.
Nina Curtis: It's plant based, and it's actually whole plant based foods. So that's another level. I'm slow cooking TRADITIONAL FOODS, cooking with the whole plant because I'll get people that say, oh, I don't like to cook. In my head, that sort of like, well, how do you eat? But I also understand that we are a society of fast food. I grew up in a house where my mom's scratch cooked, and she worked outside the house. And then my dad was a professional chef working in catering in LA, so very much in the entertainment scene. I'm the eldest of four so it was just innate in me that you cook. I had my Easy Bake oven. I learned, I figured out how to pry it with a knife because I could smell the cake. And that was a sad week. And so a kid wouldn't get burned. But in my head, it was like, my cake is done. I need to get it out before it gets burned. And it was always done. And my mom was like, how did you figure out how to do that? That's not supposed to be the case. So anyway, Plant'ish, all of that and more. And like you said, I give it room to grow, because it's a little larger than me. And it's its own entity, I work for it.
Justine Reichman: Wow, yeah. I love that. I feel like in any of these entities where we're building things that are bigger than us, it's really a collection of people and ideas. And it's collaborative. And the best way for me to grow it, I don't know if you feel the same way is to bring more people into it, to hear perspectives, to hear more points of view, to share and have differing opinions, because it inspires innovation and inspires us all to be to build better and good for you foods.
Nina Curtis: Yeah, I totally agree. It's just being in the kitchen. When I've had different teams, I'm leading, because it's the title I've tended to get. I think that comes from being the eldest and having responsibility, and seven and eight years old that I didn't even want. It's kind of the gene you get, like the cooking gene, because I really tried to run away from cooking. When I was a kid, I was like, I'm not gonna have anything to do with it. I don't get an allowance. I want to play with the kids. Never say never. I always say to God, I want to go where you want to take me. And that has really been great in my life to have that attitude.
Justine Reichman: So curious. I know you mentioned that your dad was a chef. Was that part of the inspiration for what you do today even though you didn't want to cook early on?
Nina Curtis: He, my mom and I would say that my grandmother, because I spent a lot of time with her also in the summers. She was actually a designer, but a really great cook. She lived across the street from a pool park. So every day, I'd go to the park or to swim. I had a different bikini or swimsuit because she'd have scraps of fabric. I would show her a picture of a bikini I want and she would just whip it together in 15 minutes. So a little bit about my design and food, how I played things. But yes, I definitely feel my dad because we have conversations today. He was planting seeds, just like my mom was planting seeds. So the seeds my mom plant, it's very rich. Cooking from scratch. I'm helping her, learning to do these things. She had her own garden, and we went to miss mom's grocery store. Mom's Market. It wasn't a grocery store. She'd get her bags and they'd be weighing out the almonds, the carob and such. From my dad's side, it was production. You could just be cutting a bucket of onions and that's the part that really made me say that I don't want anything to do with it. Yet last year, I was one of five lead chefs. I'm here in Sacramento for the Tower Bridge dinner, which is an annual event. It's not vegan, but I represent it. The only vegan and female in the lead of five. And we fit 800 people on a tower on the Tower Bridge. So it was constructed as a restaurant,so they definitely planted seeds. And when you plant seeds and you nourish them, Justine, I think even when you don't know you're nourishing them because I've always cooked, I've always cooked no matter how far I ran from it. I just know I'm a good cook because I like to eat food. People say, why'd you become a chef? I like, because I like to eat good food. But yeah, for sure. My grandmother planted seeds and really kept nourishing them for me. Neither of my parents are vegan, but they really respect what I've done. My dad has come to different events and worked for me, and I've paid him. My mom and I have these grits. You have this rich conversation that I feel very blessed to have with both of them.
Justine Reichman: That's so lovely. So it's really ingrained in you from the time you were very little. I know you'd love to eat so you like to cook, eat. I similarly feel the same way. If I can't go out and get a great meal, I'd rather make it myself. At least I know what I like and how to cook what I like. I do go out for inspiration.
Nina Curtis: Yes, yes, of course.
Justine Reichman: I go out for inspiration, I want to cook at home. But the other reason I really enjoy cooking is, as you said, it becomes a rich conversation for you and your family. I like to create meals that bring people together, to inspire rich conversation. And it's just a hobby for me. I mean, I'm by no means a chef. It's for the holidays, or for barbecues, or whatever. But to me, it brings together a community and an ability to talk about shared values around what we're making, how we're putting it together, friends, families, etcetera. So I think it's integral.
Nina Curtis: I think it's integral to our sustainability to history. You can really learn history from food. What's written in the book, and then there's generational recipes that have been passed down through my family. And sometimes, people get heated about how much was supposed to be in it. And this person said that it spans the scope of, I think our civilization, which really keeps me inspired. Like I said, I'm probably already planting seeds to become a food historian that would be still focused on plants, edible plants.
Justine Reichman: You've been a vegan for years, for over two decades. So what inspired you? Was it healthy? Was it the animals? Was it all of the above?
Nina Curtis: Yeah. I was competitively bodybuilding. Natural Bodybuilding, Venice Beach, and literally, woke up one morning and my body was just like, we were not having any form of animal flesh or animal secretions. And I was like, what are you talking about? Where am I going to get my protein? And it really was that way. And people say, well, how did you know? What do you mean? I was getting nauseous, and I was about down to just fish as my animal flesh of protein. And because of the way my mom cooked, there would be animal flesh on the plate. But it wasn't the center focus. She cooked with a lot of ancient grains and pulses. And then, of course, seasonally. So again, those things are planted, right? In high school, I worked at McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken. You could have it your way. I could flip those fries really well, but that was high school. I would go home and eat. Like a lot of chefs do, we don't eat in the kitchen while we're making all this food. We don't have time, we have to taste. And there's a cost. So you had home and ate whatever.
So I just think that all of that, again, as a combination comes together to make us who we are. How do we build character? How do we represent the world? But yes, I was bodybuilding, and I had to do a deep dive. I was already from bodybuilding and from being an athlete heavily involved in the health aspect of it. How can I perform? I didn't take any, as we called it at the time, and maybe they still call it juice. I was not taking any steroids. This was all Natural Bodybuilding. But there was a caveat to that too. So that's where I really started. And as you said, coming through the health door, although I didn't have any health issues, I was going to constantly increase my health and perform better. Then I really got into animal welfare. I love animals, all animals. And like I said, I haven't had beef in probably 30 years. So I stopped drinking milk. When I was younger, I had eczema and the pediatrician was very progressive at that time and told my mom to take me off whole milk. It was the milk that was aggravating, the eczema went away. So again, all these things that I experienced firsthand as if I was a lab, and then you're about the animals, then you're about our planet. I mean, I don't necessarily want to go to Mars. I'm happy here.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, I hear ya, I hear ya. I love that. I love your story. I love how it evolved. I'm also curious about Plant'ish, and then how you have this whole foundation of food, and family, and culture, and different seeds that have been planted throughout your life to be able to bring you to where you are today. That's really evidence. I'm wondering how you connected the dots to develop Plant'ish which provides education, information and support, and this community resources to really help the next generation of chefs and people in this space, as well as individuals to have a right to this information and more.
“The whole goal in hospitality and food is to create this dining experience.” —Nina Curtis
Nina Curtis: Well, I ran, like I said, as far away from food in my mind. How it was going to be, but I landed in a professional spa, professional holistic aesthetics. You go to the skincare. I had my own skincare practice in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I worked for a very well known skincare company. So that's where the education part came in because I traveled the world. I traveled throughout the United States giving seminars, teaching other estheticians, and teaching the public. I was on QVC for a year working. So you have all these things that, once again, I really want to emphasize people think about. Take inventory of your experience. Because something as simple as working at McDonald's was constantly told to us, time to lean, time to clean. What did I carry when I was leading kitchens? Time to lean, time to clean. Have it your way at Burger King. Serve the customer. I love serving. Going to the White House, your civil servant. The whole goal in hospitality and food is to create this dining experience. I am in holistic and wellness traveling all over the world, teaching and lecturing, attending seminars and eating. Before I go, I'm looking for restaurants where I can eat. Before HappyCow was around, the app, then I really dove in.
In college, I worked at Marriott Group, Hilton Group, Baxter's in Southern California. I also had this scope of food service because I could go to school in the day, or I could even work in the day, but I could work in food service later shifts. So again, while I'm running away, I'm doing what I want in the day, but food has never left me. Food never gave up on me. The Food Service never gave up on me. It was like, you're gonna find out. And then at a point when I got into bodybuilding, it was vegan, it was easy. I needed more. So I went raw vegan for three years. I couldn't do it at the time. But when the time opened up, I attended the Living Light Culinary Institute in Fort Bragg, which was an all raw vegan culinary school. And then I went to New York natural gourmet, which is a macrobiotic. When I was six, my aunt was strongly into Eastern philosophy and practices. She took me to Santa Monica beach, and the deal was I would do yoga with her. I'm doing hatha yoga and Lotus Pose with one eye open trying to figure out the kid I was going to connect with so we could catch sand dabs. She believed, being a macrobiotic eater, that if you couldn't cook it on a walk, you really shouldn't eat it. Then coming from California, it's the California cuisine revolution out of the mid 70's. I'm thinking my aunt and my mom were very connected to, and then growing up in that. I've worked from New York Pure Food and Wine--
Justine Reichman: I used to go there all the time. I'm one lucky duck.
Nina Curtis: Yes, one lucky duck. That little space made so much money. So again, I did my MBA at Pepperdine. I was the executive chef at a ranch in Malibu. I've just weaved, and I am always in beauty and understanding how skincare products were made. And understanding Cleopatra bathing goat milk. Food was not leaving me. Food was not leaving me. So that has really continued. I moved up to Sacramento. I was recruited to come up here and work with a health care company that is based here and they have 23 hospitals on the west coast. So I opened a 5000 square foot facility for the 1400 Associates we had, but it was really to be rolled out into all the hospitals. They purchased the Blue Zones Project.
Justine Reichman: Sounds familiar with the Blue Zones Project. Tell us a little bit about it.
“The thing that we have to know about food, the tradition of that, generational recipes of dishes that have been passed down— we don't want to lose history.” —Nina Curtis
Nina Curtis: It's not just you and I having this conversation. So the Blue Zones Project was initiated over 20 years ago by most no National Geographic and Dan Buettner. And there were other people for sure. They were studying the longest lived people in the world and the connection with, or the event itself that I worked with the Seventh Day Adventists, and a large population of Seventh Day Adventists live in Loma Linda, California. And that is the only zone, Blue Zone in the United States. It was Japan, Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, and they studied the lifestyle, which is important to note the lifestyle of these people. Centenarians that were athletic, active and moving, and they came up with the power of nine of the Blue Zones. And that talks about movements and belonging. I'm not putting them in any certain order. And the tribe, wine at five except for Seventh Day Adventist, no matter where they went with these people, plants were the focus, not the meat. Seventh Day Adventists are vegetarian. So by default, I'm like, oh, we just take out the cream and the cheese. You could do things. And we have the ingredients. I have the know-how. I'm a speaker for Blue Zones. And so the thing I think today that we have to know with slow food, the tradition of that, that came out of Italy. Traditional foods that are generational recipes of dishes that have been passed down, we don't want to lose history. We know the issue with books and banning of books, and I just saw something on Instagram where they're removing things. I can't remember his name right now. He was in Los Angeles. He was a big health expert. He always wore a headband and like a leotard back like crazy times.
Justine Reichman: Are you talking about the exercise guy? Oh, my God. Something Simpson? We had the curly hair--
Nina Curtis: Yes, yes. Yes. He always wore that headband. If you look now online, they've removed that headband. Any costume because he's such a figure for Halloween, the band doesn't come. And so these are subtle things that they're removing out of our history. And now, people will look at them. I'll be talking to you about the headband. You'll be Nina, there's no headband. I'm like, yeah, there's a headband. We'll go online, you can't find it. But you experienced it. I worked around the corner from one of the studios because they franchised, but he was everywhere. So I say all that to say, because I get quite excited. I don't apologize for my excitement, that all of this that I do in food really spilled out into my lifestyle. When I get into conversations with people, and when I cook for them, my advocacy is on the plate. I know, every dish I serve, I'm having an impact to get someone to think differently. Because most of my audience that I've cooked for throughout my two decades of vegan cooking have not dominantly been vegans.
Justine Reichman: Interesting. What's interesting to me is that I have a lot of food intolerances. I don't eat gluten, I don't eat eggs, sugar doesn't make me feel good, etcetera. But if you eat good food in its simplest form with fresh herbs, a little soft little pepper, or whatever you like, it is really good. People tend to revert to these recipes because we have them in books, and they're complicated, et cetera. And they have all these things. Well, I don't really want to eat that. I don't really want to eat that. I don't really want to eat that. But when you go out and you have that, I eat fish. So I had a beautiful fish and was stocked with lemon inside, and all these little herbs, and then potatoes. But instead of whisk cream there,with olive oil. And I was like, now this is brilliant. It's really simple. Yes, so delicious. It was the extra virgin olive oil, the one that they chose, you could taste it. You put a little on your tongue, it tastes so different than choosing a different olive oil. And so understanding where some of these things come from, and the choices we make to create that meal are really important. Because in today's world where we want to build better for you food, people don't necessarily know how to do that. They lean on the recipe box. Some books are easier than others. And some are more inspirational and aspirational than others. But sometimes, I find it (inaudible). I can't eat certain things in the (inaudible), so I'll replace them. Replace them.
“Whether you're building a business or you're making food for your family, you want to make sure that they get access to the best possible ingredients and it tastes good.” —Justine Reichman
I just think that sometimes, we forget that. It doesn't have to be exact, that you can use the best quality and ingredients you want to make to prepare that food. I'm not a chef. I'm just doing this for myself. But I get so excited about it because I figure out, oh, I can make this, and I use these herbs, and look how this tastes without me using mayonnaise, which I don't eat. I don't eat nitrates, but I just want people to know that. From my perspective when I hear you, I get excited because I'm like, she's talking about the actual foods. The whole food, how do we use it? How do we make it? How do we make it better for you? And I think that that's the message because whether you're building a business, or you're making food for your family, you want to make sure that they get access to the best possible ingredients. And it tastes good. Because if it doesn't taste good, we don't realize, taste is king. If they don't like it, they're not going to eat it. Understanding where your food comes from, we grow. I have a little edible garden here. So much of a green thumb, but an edible garden that I work that we have. You can taste the difference between some of those vegetables and fruits versus the ones you buy in the market. Maybe the ones in the market, or pick too early, etcetera. I digress, but I just got excited when you were talking about that. I love the whole ingredient aspect of this. I love creating simple things. I've often gone back to another thing that you said, which was about things from your childhood that your family made. I think about all the things that I grew up with in my family is Jewish, and I'm sure you know that it's very dairy, all those glimpses, and I can't eat any. But you want to be able to bring those cultural foods into your life and tweak them. And I think it's really possible. I love to see that people continue to make those efforts to do that and bring it forward so that it's not forgotten. It's remembered, and it's celebrated.
Nina Curtis: No, it's important. I want to clarify that when I'm at home in my own kitchen, I'm a cook. I'm sure when I'm in my profession and doing what I have to do, I have that title because that defines a chef, that you're running the operation executive chefs that I'm really running it and responsible. And there are some executive chefs that they don't really cook because they're really managing the business. But I am an enhanced Executive Chef, if you will. But in my kitchen, I'm a cook. And the other thing that she said, I think if we get people to eat more whole foods, and the simplicity of it, the simplicity of it, you're not trying to, and the way I teach when I lose my audience, am I teaching chefs that want to learn more about vegan pastry. Because there are a pastry chef, and now they have people coming in with gluten issues, lactose intolerance. We never use the word vegan because of all the things that people today are experiencing. But vegan is more friendly to that since we don't have eggs, we don't have milk, we can or cannot have gluten. But it's easier in my training, because that's how I've been trained, to be more compassionate about the needs of the audience that may be coming in. So I'm not that chef that gets mad when someone puts in a special order. Because we're artists. We want to, like an artist, express our art on the plate. I always say, I'm an artist on the plate. I'm an advocate on the plate. I get to paint the plate with all these beautiful colors of the food I choose to cook.
But I do agree with you, because I lived in Beverly Hills for a long time. So I kind of follow the ways on Saturday. I do like, okay, things are gonna be close. I kind of went in that group, the bakeries, everything. I'm very clear on dairy and eggs. But today, we can respect the recipe of tradition and generations. I've taken a collection of my mom's recipes and veganize them. But I just took out the egg and used the egg that I can (inaudible) seven different eggs I can use. We have maybe one, right? I have 5, 10 different milks I can use, and butters are the same. So it doesn't take away the tradition. Because I think those that were creating those recipes at the time, my ancestors, were so progressive and being able to use what we had and make something maybe of nothing or whatever. If they were in our time now, they'd still be that much more progressive. So they're talking to me all the time, get with it, check, don't do what I did, bring it forward. I didn't do all this work for you just to leave it the way you found it.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, I think that's great. I think there's a whole conversation going on about many cultural foods and how to make them better for you, whether it is plant powered vegan or just healthier in some way, shape or form. And when I say better for you, it means that maybe instead of using two cups of sugar, you use one cup of sugar. Or maybe you use dates to sweeten it as opposed to something else. Obviously, there's a lot of different ways, but I love that there's ways to do that. So it's not lost and we continue to share that with our families. My favorite one is noodle pudding. I neither eat eggs, nor gluten, nor dairy. So I found gluten free noodles. You can imagine I made this whole thing because I wanted to eat the noodle pudding and serve it to my father who loves it. Am I going to get my noodle pudding, I can't eat it. So I had to adjust the recipe to be able to continue that tradition. And enjoy it as well.
Nina Curtis: And sometimes, it's better. We don't push that envelope. But we let others say, wow, this is so good. And specializing in vegan desserts, I knew that was the leading card because no one asked, where's the protein? But what they should be asking is, what about the sugar? So that is kind of interesting in our society where we choose and how food companies, a message, Justine, I'd really like and push is processed food. Heavily processed food. Because I processed food all day. So let's be there. But heavily processed foods are what really shorten our lifespan or health. When I see kids in elementary that already are experiencing type two diabetes and other gastrointestinal issues because they've grown up on processed foods, that's a real concern that I have. I've worked with young kids, teenagers, adults and our elders. So you see this, and someone may say, well, I don't have a problem today. I don't have to be worried about it,. You're saying, make it healthier. But history shows, and working in the healthcare industry shows more than likely you're going to come upon it. And it will happen, like it's overnight. But it's been happening silently for years.
Justine Reichman: So to digress back to now that you are warring, I don't know about more, but you're very ingrained in the health industry, making food for the hospital, for these people. I'm wondering, what is your overall goal for that? Because I can imagine so many things, but I'd like to hear what about this was most compelling and what you're hoping to achieve with food and the hospitals?
Nina Curtis: I was with that organization for years. So last year, my assignment finished. But what's happened is a lot of people have reached out for me, and I was also working in tandem. I still work with Blue Zones. They're building a huge Blue Zone Center in Miami, which will be opening in 2025. I'm on the board of plant based prevention of disease. So we are a nonprofit organization that really works with hospitals. Next month, I will be at a Culinary Medical Summit, Medicine Summit, and I will be presenting to chefs and other dietitians in the hospital with regards to other ways to look at food--
Justine Reichman: Is that in London? There's one in London.
“In any of these entities where we're building things that are bigger than us, it's a collection of people and ideas.” —Justine Reichman
Nina Curtis: This one is in Chicago. It's put on by the American Federation of chefs who I've been with for speaking for different programs, and pretty much 10 years ago, introduced vegan. I'm a chef, I'm a vegan chef guys, don't count me out. So I put myself sometimes in uncomfortable positions, because I've just got thick skin. I make a cuisine, and I am a chef that happens to cook with this set of ingredients that happened to be plants. I've had standing room only, like I said, chefs that are pastry chefs, and speaking to them about switching out things. Some of the nuances that you have to consider with the flour, different flowers. It's not always one for one, and all of that. So now we're meeting with Plant'ish and the consulting arm of it, I am working with a lot of health, well being entities that may not want to bring it on fully as a vegan. Labels get us caught up. I really talk about whole plant based foods, traditional foods, all the things I've shared with you. And that dialogue and this lexicon of words I've learned to use seems to make it more palatable for people to digest.
Justine Reichman: I think so. I think sometimes we get scared when people are apprehensive when they say, oh, that's a vegan muffin. Oftentimes, the challenge I have with them is they're far too sweet. There's too much sugar in it for me. So I think that the idea that there's an opportunity for chefs to be, I don't understand how to make these changes and create these foods that are whole plant based, that are better for you, maybe have a little less sugar, I'm sure there's an audience that loves the sugar. I just don't like real sweets. But to create things that people can really enjoy that are better for us, better for our health and better for the planet, it seems like a dream. It sounds like you're on that mission.
Nina Curtis: I am. And that's the mission I'm on. Because when I was bodybuilding, when I became or came into the door of veganism is health, then you look at, as you said, there's the animal component. So I've taken that on, and then you take on the planet component, and then you just take on the human component, because there are people that are providing these foods that people are eating, now you're talking industrial AG, right? We wouldn't want to do that. We wouldn't want to have to go catch the chicken and do what needs to be done, or the cow, or whatever. I put that into perspective to say, if you still are okay with doing that, okay, well, that's one thing. But so much of what food companies have done, they've hidden on every level, every sculpt of how our food is getting to the plate. And so we're in this dark box where we don't have to think about it. I'm reading a book right now, food politics, and it's just wild. Because as long as the big companies control the food system, we have to take that back like we're learning today. We have to take a lot back. Choice of what you want to eat on your plate is your choice. I still know from society and the health issues, all the diseases that are coming about that, or diet related. Meaning, we can change it, we can reverse it. These are the things that I'm very, very interested in, adamant about, and an advocate for. You go to the hospital, you have a surgery, I've told my coworkers this and executives, you come out of surgery, why are you starving? Why are you serving a hamburger? They get in this stumble, they're the first that I can find in a hospital in the world that is 100% vegan. And I can't wait for the studies. But there are so many studies, and it just seems that just eating whole foods, just eating foods at home can drastically change our health, and our well being, our mental well being.
Justine Reichman: So I have a question for you. Because I'm really passionate about creating greater access to healthy food and the impact it has on health and wellness. We have a lot of work that we're doing behind the scenes to support this initiative and highlight different trials and studies that you can find to show the impact food has on health and wellness. That's a separate conversation that I'd love to chat with you about. And as we do that, my question is that, going back to your vegan, there's plant based and then there's people that just want to eat a healthy balanced life, and whatever that looks like to that. I'll finish this off with saying, how do you feel like lab grown meat fits in here?
Nina Curtis: I know you're gonna get to that. As a vegan, I don't go for the foods that mimic the (inaudible.) While I may eat mushrooms, I think I can take every mushroom and make it taste like the meat you like, from oyster mushrooms to chicken, Lion's Mane to steak, et cetera, et cetera. I am not a proponent of lab based meats, but I am holding as far as animal welfare. Well, did you ask permission of the animal to take their sale? Okay, that's another question. As we go back with the cancer thing, an African American woman, and that's a whole nother story. And then for the planet, it appears to be much better. So the way I think and the way I am have to sometimes remove my personal, and look at, and watch, and read how is this going to happen. Because at the same time, there's a lot of progress being made with still plant based meats. Even mushrooms and mycelium that get very lab forward in that way. So the fact that this is a trend that's been going on for over 20 years now, because I've been waiting for everybody. And the fact that I'm going to be on a webinar in two weeks where it's titled, Vegan Means Business, because we see an improvement in dollars and the bottom line. All these things that matter to me, I have to stay open. I have to stay observant. I'm not so much a judge about something that I may not choose to put on my plate. And that I think has been my success in my adult career, that I hold my judgment. I really focus on having an opinion, do my due diligence, do my research. I got that from my MBA. We had to research things with papers. I can't wait to get done with this. But again, it's prepared me for, as you said, what are your thoughts? My thoughts are, I'm observing, because it's so new. Yeah, it's like AI. AI is not new, it's 45 plus years old. But now, it's come to the masses. And now, we have to really look at certain biases. And I say AI because AI will impact food. AI will impact everything, your audience, you and I that we do. And so I always pull back the lens and look at the world as it is. It's quite vast.
Justine Reichman: As a vegan chef, would that be an option for you to put on a plate? Maybe not for yourself, but for somebody else.
Nina Curtis: I've had to think about that. Up to this point, I haven't had to do it. But I will plead the fifth. Again, my concern is always animal rights. That's going to be better, because that's worse. Let's see how the verdict plays out. I'm always interested in the intent, who's behind it. Follow the money. I've had people say, oh, I've never met a chef with an MBA. I'm like, well, here I am. And more than that, and more than any of my formal education, I was planted with a seed of common sense. And that common sense is to stand back and go, does that really make sense? And where will we be, because missions and all the things we're concerned about in our world, I mean, we really have to do the deep dive. I know a lot of people are like, well, I don't have time for that. But I do because where am I gonna live if we continue on the trajectory that we're on because things are speeding up.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. So my last question for you, because I feel like I have so many. About the White House dinner, because that was a big deal to be able to be part of, to be able to create a plant based meal were they looking for, did they go out and say, we want to have a plant based meal, and they come find you? How did this transpire? And what was it like?
Nina Curtis: How did they decide on it? The Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was coming for the visit, and he's a strict vegetarian. And the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, and the first ladies of the White House are the ones that plan the dinners and who's going to do it. Well, I'm also a member of the culinary corps. We're called the American Culinary Corps. And there's 84 of us right now. It's a partnership between the State Department and the James Beard Foundation. And their goal is to use food, hospitality and dining experiences to entertain foreign dignitaries, to show cultural aspects through food, to break that red, we have all these terms, and also to strengthen relationships. So being a part of that Forbes and then the White House. I'm not sure how many of us were present, but I know when I got the call and the email started coming in. It was that first lady Dr. Jill Biden chose me to curate this menu, working with Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, and Executive Pastry Chef Susan Morrison. And so that's what happened. I always say, Lord, I'm not getting in your way. If you've chosen me, I'm gonna show up and do it. And it was very fast and furious. They have a system there. So it was the first plant based menu in the history of White House that they eat dinner. Because as I often find, you're wanting to involve everyone. And we have 400 guests. Often the state dinners might be like 200, 250. So it was already double for, you're talking about the oldest democracy United States and then the largest democracy, India with 1.4 pushing 5 billion people. And we've got about 300 and something million, right? So you can see those two dynamics. It was exciting, it was a pinnacle moment for me. And it's a humbling experience. I knew I was up for the job, like many that have come. So I went in, and everyone made me feel really comfortable. We did a tasting with the First Lady and her advisors. And so I get in a box, the best way to describe it. So I just focus on the things at hand. I don't let my emotions run with me like I am about to serve the First Lady. I'm about to serve the Prime Minister of the largest, you have to control it. So I think all of my experience in the kitchen, I'm gonna say in the professional culinary world has set me up for that. Because you have to be ready for a fire taking off in the kitchen, you have to be ready for your food, for your menu not getting to you. There's so many things, and it really showed me who I was.
Justine Reichman: That's amazing. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. We could go on for ages. I'd love to bring you back to your conversation as you progress and make changes in food, health and et cetera. So Nina, it was so great to meet you. Thank you so much.
Nina Curtis: Thank you for having me. Thank you Justine, it was great to be with you.
