Spud Lab Hosts Denver Health Professionals for Culinary Medicine Training

Potatoes USA recently hosted a group of Denver-area health and nutrition professionals at the Spud Lab for a hands-on training in the American College of Culinary Medicine (ACCM) curriculum, reinforcing potatoes’ role in healthy eating patterns and within the culinary medicine curriculum.

Culinary medicine is an evidence-based field that blends culinary technique with nutrition science, equipping practitioners to help patients prevent and manage chronic disease through better eating. ACCM is a credentialing body for the field, and Potatoes USA has built a relationship with the organization over time, including previously sponsoring its Health Meets Food conference.

• Why it matters: Consumer demand starts with what people believe about food, which is often influenced by what they hear from their doctors and dietitians. Culinary medicine training is one way the industry works to shape that conversation at the source.

Attendees represented a cross-section of the health community, including dietitians and healthcare professionals working both in private practice and public health. Their affiliations included University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Metropolitan State University Department of Nutrition, Denver Health, University of Denver Athletics, HealthONE and Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists.

Some attendees said they came to explore culinary medicine as a discipline, while others wanted to pick up new techniques for educating patients. Some potato nutrition topics that were covered throughout the immersion included the vegetable’s role as a nutrient-dense staple and the benefits of the resistant starch that forms when potatoes are cooked and cooled.

An opportunity for new partnerships

Several attendees expressed interest in offering similar experiences to the physicians and dietitians on their own staff. Participants were also drawn to the culinary innovation happening at the Spud Lab and recognized that potatoes are often misunderstood in conversations about healthy eating.

Next steps

Potatoes USA will maintain momentum with another culinary immersion in the spring.