Dietetics students get hands-on kitchen experience

From planning to shopping, chopping and arranging flowers, seven dietetics students had a final exam last May that involved everything but the standard blue books and bubble sheets.

As senior dietetics students, they were part of a pilot project that extended labs for the program’s food management course from University Housing facilities to the kitchens at the UW Hospital and Clinics — and gave the future dietitians a crash course in culinary skills and the logistics of large-scale food service operations. The pilot hospital lab continues this fall.

“The goal for these labs is to give students experience in the administration and management of on-site food service operations, which will prepare them for the internships they typically pursue after graduation,” explains Monica Theis, a registered dietitian and dietetics program instructor in the food science department. The dietetics program is housed within the nutritional sciences department, but some of the coursework is completed through food science.

Dietitians use science-based knowledge about food and nutrition to prevent and treat disease. They might work in a clinical setting, as a food service administrator or in a community nutrition program. With obesity and diabetes reaching an epidemic scale in America, good eating habits are essential for good health, says Theis. “Students need to understand not only what Americans are eating, but how and where as well.”

For more than five years, Theis has partnered with University Housing to give dietetics students experience in kitchens with real food, equipment and customers. “We feel we have a lot to offer students, in that we can show them how to run a high-quality retail food operation,” says Julie Luke, assistant director of food services for Lakeshore Housing. “It’s valuable to them to get a sense of what work you’re asking someone else to do when you’re managing a facility. This ultimately affects the service you give your customers.”

Last spring, Theis forged another partnership with John Marks, executive chef of UW Hospital and Clinics. A veteran chef, Marks has helped take the hospital’s kitchens go from a tray-line operation to a made-to-order room service program, in addition to revamping cafeteria, vending and catering services. Marks jumped at the opportunity to help dietetics students improve their culinary skills and expand their vision of what dietetics can offer.

“I wanted them to take away the notion that culinary arts have a place within a dietetics program,” he explains. “When food looks better and tastes better, it helps patients. The students should have culinary work intertwined with their science classes.”

Marks and his staff, including production manager Bruce Carlson, took the students through rotations in the bustling hospital kitchens, which serve more than 4,000 meals a day. From knife skills to developing new dishes for catering, from learning about flavor profiles to baking desserts, they got a firsthand look at how a major food service facility runs.

Student Jennifer Allen, a senior from Elm Grove, appreciated the opportunity to work in an unpredictable, real-world setting. “You always had to be on your toes,” she recalls. “You have to deal with whatever comes up.”

The students’ final exam involved preparing a Brazilian meal — from menu planning to shopping, preparation and presentation. And, says Marks, they passed with flying colors. “All the dishes were scraped clean by the end of the day,” he says, “so people definitely liked it.”

As the pilot lab continues, Theis hopes help bring a culinary emphasis to the dietetics program and integrate some of these concepts into the food science curriculum in the future.

“If we’re going to do something serious about health problems like obesity, we have got to get back to good, healthy food,” she says.