*DISCLAIMER* I am not a nutritionist. I am a college kid studying nutrition. Please take all of these health claims with a grain of salt, and please do your own research as well!
The United States has a really bad problem of associating some cultural foods with junk food, and I’m not sure if I agree with that.
I’ve been noticing a pattern of sorts when it comes to eating healthier. As someone who is currently working on finding a balance between healthy food and good-tasting food, I’ve been having some difficulty when it comes to looking for different foods to cook that’ll fill me up and also provide me with my daily nutrients. But when I search for “healthy dinner recipes,” do you know what I usually see? Wraps, salads, grilled meats that look unseasoned, and stuffed vegetables. And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with these recipes, as a Black woman with southern food influences, my family already looks at me crazy when I think about switching cornbread recipes to add more nutrients to our meals. Imagine what would happen if I switched out fried chicken for bell peppers stuffed with grilled chicken and vegetables! Though my family isn’t crowding their plates with junk food, that is not the ideal picture of what healthier meals might look like for my household.
Among all of the stigmas surrounding food, the one I’m focused on is the lack of cultural diversity that is available in healthy food media. I know personally that my cultural food (soul food) is not viewed as a healthy cuisine at all. And in some ways, this can be true; soul food does have a tendency to be kind of grease-heavy, whether it be through fried pork chops or a pound cake using rich butter. However, I am upset with the complete erasure of cultural food that has happened because of this. Instead of being taught how to adjust recipes, many people are told to completely substitute them for healthier alternatives. And again, while this may be necessary for some dishes, one of the first things that I learned in my nutrition class is that completely eliminating things from your eating lifestyle is not the best way to have a healthy (and enjoyable) eating life.
But then I realized… Healthy doesn’t look like that for a lot of people, either.
Centering around dishes that are lightly seasoned, grilled, or simply mixed together (referring to grain bowls and salads) provides the healthy culture in today's social media with somewhat of a Mediterranean feel. But there is much more to food (and the world) than areas that are surrounding the Mediterranean sea! Looking from one end of the world to the other, world cuisines are full of diversity, ranging from delicious arepas from Argentina to meticulously prepared sushi in Japan.
So if there’s so much cultural variety in kitchens across the world, what does healthy look like for them?
Using this question to guide me, I set out to explore part of the world in order to find a definition of healthy that can satisfy all palates. As a foodie, I love to travel and discover new dishes from different areas of the world. Of course... I haven’t started actually travelling, but why wait when I can put my five senses to good use here at home? Not only does this help solve the problem of cultural variety in healthy meals, but I also get to work on my own cooking skills while highlighting some beautiful dishes from around the world! What could be better than that?
I wanted to start with something that I’m completely unfamiliar with. I decided to look in Asia-- Southeast Asia to be more specific. I know that Chinese fried rice and Japanese sushi are hot commodities here in the U.S., but I had never really done anything outside of that. So I did some research, and Thailand popped up on my list.
Thailand, located in the center of the Indochinese Peninsula, is a country full of diverse ecosystems, with hilly forests, rice fields, plateaus, and coasts. Because their landscape is so different, and because of their position in the center of Cambodia and Myanmar, this also means that their cuisine has a lot of different influences depending on where in Thailand you reside. Southern homes in Thailand are more likely to have spicier dishes involving seafood, where northern homes might instead have a unique cuisine of food referred to as Lanna or Isaan. While I wasn’t previously aware of this fact, I feel like my food journey covered Thailand pretty evenly.
I decided to be a bit adventurous and discover two recipes that I had never tried before, and they both ended up being a hit!
The first recipe that I ended up trying was Chicken Khao Soi, which was a mildly spicy dish with juicy chicken thighs cooked in a coconut curry broth. While it may just seem like a typical lunch or dinner, a further analysis of the dish can reveal some key nutritional benefits:
It starts with a burst of flavor from sautéing shallots, garlic, and ginger. Not only do these vegetables serve as tantalizing aromatics, but they also contain a multitude of properties that are good for your health, including the antioxidant benefits present in garlic and the digestive benefits that ginger is hailed for. Next up is the chicken stock, which has an abundance of collagen to aid in skin and joint health. Rich coconut milk, a powerhouse for fat, carbohydrates, and various essential minerals, like manganese, copper, iron, magnesium, and selenium. Finally, there is an addition of skinless chicken thighs, which each have about 14 grams of protein per individual thigh. The pot is left covered to simmer for about 20 minutes, allowing the chicken thighs to grow tender from the concentrated broth flavors. Once this is completed, the curry is removed from the heat, and served with fresh cilantro, which is rich in vitamins C, A, and K; freshly sliced red onion, which possesses inflammation-reducing antioxidants and other minerals; bean sprouts and lime, which are both good sources of vitamin C; and chow mien noodles, which… taste delicious!
Of course, after a meal with a bit of spice, I already knew that I would want something on the sweeter side, so the next thing I went for was a dessert, of course! For my treat, I did a little spin on Sangkaya Fak Thong, or pumpkin coconut custard. This custard dish has a more general popularity, being present in areas all across Southeast Asia, and is known for its aesthetically pleasing presentation of a stiff, Jello-like custard with a “crust” of tender kabocha pumpkin. After mixing eggs and sugar with nutritious coconut cream, a kabocha pumpkin is hollowed out and filled with the mixture. Next, the pumpkin is placed in a Dutch oven filled with hot water and then steamed for about an hour and a half. While it may seem like you can get overwhelmed with the fat, carbohydrates, and sugar from the custard itself, the kabocha squash is riddled with various minerals like potassium, manganese, and folate. There’s also a good serving of dietary fiber, which can help with digestive function.
Now, what is supposed to happen is that after steaming, you get a beautifully structured “bowl” from the pumpkin, and after cooling, you can cut slices out of the pumpkin and serve it immediately. However, after my attempt, my pumpkin split open from being so soft, leading to a leaky mess. No worries, though! With a blender, a pinch of baking spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice), and some vanilla extract, I turned the runny custard and soft pumpkin into a nice base to freeze for a frozen custard treat. For the sake of aesthetics, I refrained from taking pictures of an orange cylinder, but the taste definitely made up for my blunder!
Starting this journey into finding healthy meals from different backgrounds really made me realize that healthy doesn’t have to look “green and clean” for it to be healthy. While there may be some concerns with this dish for people with certain health concerns, there are very simple fixes for them that don’t involve completely scrapping the dish!
Is sodium your concern? Swap out any soy sauce for a lower sodium option, or look for sodium free chicken stock to add to your curry broth.
Did the fat content bother you? You can definitely use chicken breasts instead of thighs for the protein, or swap out fresh coconut milk for coconut milk powder if you still want the creamy flavor in your broth.
Did you want less fat and carbs in your coconut custard? Don’t worry about it! It may seem a bit redundant or dismissive to say that in regards to dessert, but remember, desserts are treats; if you enjoy them in moderation and control everything else, it shouldn’t be something to dwell on too much. However, if you’re that insistent, using light cream mixed with a little bit of coconut extract should do the trick.
In the end, though, it’s important to find enjoyment in your meal choices. That way, switching to “healthier” options is more of an adventure instead of a burden.
What’s a recipe that you’ve enjoyed recently?
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Sources:
Various Ingredient Nutrition Facts: WebMD
Thailand Picture: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-time-to-visit-thailand