Zest: The Health meets Food Newsletter
June 2026
Zest. It says a lot about what the folks who are involved with Culinary Medicine are about. People connected with the Culinary Medicine movement have just that: a zest for life, learning, and teaching. Zest evokes the excitement and passion that is happening at the intersection of where health meets food.
ACCM Leadership Announcement
The American College of Culinary Medicine (ACCM) has named Jaclyn Albin, MD, CCMS, as its next President, marking a new chapter for nation’s leading professional organization dedicated to advancing culinary medicine and food-first nutrition in healthcare.
Dr. Albin brings nearly two decades of leadership in culinary medicine, spanning interprofessional education, clinical care, research, and health system innovation.
Dr. Albin is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Public Health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) and a nationally recognized leader in culinary medicine, food as medicine, and nutrition education. A board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, she co-founded and directs UTSW’s Culinary Medicine Program. She also serves as Medical Director of Food is Medicine Innovation at Parkland Health’s Center for Innovation and Value, helping develop strategies that address nutrition security and integrate food-based interventions into clinical care.
Click to See the Full Press Release
2027 Health meets Food: The Culinary Medicine Conference is Open for Registration
Our 13th annual conference will be held in New Orleans June 10 through June 13.
This coming year’s conference will cover how food impacts our mental and emotional health with amazing presenters speaking about the link between food and cognition. In addition there will be great culinary skills building sessions, networking and information on building Culinary Medicine programs.
We have a great line up of speakers including:
Barbara Rolls, PhD: Dr. Rolls is past president of both the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior and The Obesity Society, and has been a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Dr. Rolls is the recipient of a number of awards, including the American Society of Nutritional Sciences Award in Human Nutrition and a MERIT award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. She is the author of five books, including The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories and The Volumetrics Eating Plan.
Uma Naidoo, MD: In her role as a Clinical Scientist, Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based clinical service in Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry & Lifestyle Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. She is pioneering the nascent field of Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. Dr. Naidoo is a trained psychiatrist, professional chef and nutrition specialist.
Maggie Moon, MS, RD: Maggie Moon, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian, best-selling author, and health communications expert with past lives as university faculty, e-grocery RD, and in-house nutrition expert for global CPG brands.
Currently, Ms. Moon is a strategic consultant to better-for-you brands and commodities, as well as a writer and speaker on nutrition for brain health. For 10+ years, she was an executive at The Wonderful Company where she was the top thought leader, subject matter expert, and spokesperson on health & nutrition for the Wonderful Company’s portfolio of healthy CPG brands.
Rachel Herz, PhD: Dr. Herz is a neuroscientist and a leading world expert on the psychological science of smell. Dr. Herz is a TEDx and TED speaker, has published over 110 original research articles to date, and received many awards and grants. She is on the faculty at Brown University, has extensive research collaborations with scientists in the US and Europe, is a professional consultant to numerous international companies, and is frequently called upon as an expert witness in legal cases involving the chemical senses.
Dr. Herz is the incoming President of the International Society of Neurogastronomy (2026-2028).
Register for the 2027 Conference Now!
Register for the Recorded 2026 Health meets Food: The Culinary Medicine Conference
Register now and view the 2026 conference. The recorded conference is as close as you can get to participating live and includes lectures, expert panels, culinary skills-building programming, and small group interactions with your colleagues.
Register for the 2026 Recorded Conference Now!
2027 Health meets Food: The Culinary Medicine Conference Featured Speaker
Uma Naidoo, MD
Food, Mood, and Mental Health Across the Lifespan
In her role as a Clinical Scientist, Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based clinical service in Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry & Lifestyle Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. She is pioneering the nascent field of Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. Dr. Naidoo is a trained psychiatrist, professional chef and nutrition specialist.
Dr Naidoo graduated from the Harvard-Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Boston during which she received several awards, some of which included a “Junior Investigator Award” (American Psychiatric Association); “Leadership Development for Physicians and Scientists” award (Harvard), as well as being the very first psychiatrist to be awarded the coveted “Curtis Prout Scholar in Medical Education”. Dr Naidoo, has been asked by The American Psychiatric Association to author the first academic text in Nutritional Psychiatry. She has written a national bestselling non-fiction trade book published in 2020, This Is Your Brain On Food, based on her work in Nutritional Psychiatry. Based on her book she has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Harvard Health Press, The Today Show, Live with Kelly and Ryan, Bon Appétit and others.
Opportunity for CCMP Grads!
Sous Chef / Culinary Operations Coordinator
Healthy Thyme Meals | Charleston, SC
Healthy Thyme Meals is a locally owned meal preparation company serving the Charleston area, and we are seeking a Sous Chef, Culinary Operations Coordinator, or experienced Cook to join our growing team.
We are looking for someone who is passionate about healthy food, enjoys working with fresh ingredients, and takes pride in preparing high-quality meals that help busy individuals and families eat well throughout the week. This position offers the opportunity to be part of a growing company while maintaining a schedule that provides an exceptional work-life balance.
While professional kitchen experience is preferred, we are willing to train the right individual who brings a strong work ethic, positive attitude, and passion for healthy food.
Compensation
- $60,000–$75,000 annually, based on experience
Benefits
- Paid vacation time
- Paid holidays
- Primarily daytime hours
- No late nights
- Positive, team-oriented kitchen environment
- Opportunity for growth and advancement
Qualifications
- Experience in a professional kitchen is preferred
- Strong organizational and time-management skills
- Attention to detail and commitment to quality
- Positive attitude and team-first mindset
- Passion for healthy food and fresh ingredients
- Desire to learn and grow within a fast-paced, team-oriented environment
- Interest in kitchen operations, recipe costing, inventory management, and process improvement
- Basic administrative and computer skills are a plus
At Healthy Thyme Meals, we are committed to making healthy eating convenient, delicious, and accessible. We are looking for someone who shares that mission and wants to help us continue serving our community at a high level.
If you know someone who may be a good fit, we would greatly appreciate your help sharing this opportunity.
Interested candidates can send a resume and brief introduction to: info@healthythymemeals.com
Culinary Medicine Research Library – June 2026
This collection of research articles is curated by the Clinical Practice Committee and is sorted into collections and sub-collections that you are able to search by clicking on the dropdown menu labelled “Top Level”.
If you are interested in synchronizing the database to your desktop version of Zotero, complete the form at the bottom of the Research Library page:
https://culinarymedicine.org/research-2/culinary-medicine-research-library/
This month, the Clinical Practice Committee selected the following articles for inclusion:
1. Culinary Medicine Program Using Herbs and Spices to Increase Vegetable Consumption Among Adults with Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Study
https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171251380839
2. Cooking with the curriculum: expanding nutrition knowledge in medical education through a longitudinal, peer teaching, culinary medicine model
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09555-33. One-Year Weight Loss Following a Remote Culinary Medicine Program: A Bi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial
https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.701934. Nutritional Needs, Dietary Knowledge, and Culinary Skills in Individuals with Diabetes Mellitus: A Scoping Review
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2026.100627
ACCM Culinary Medicine Roundtable: Breaking Down Barriers to Implementation of Culinary Medicine in Patient Care
The next ACCM Culinary Medicine Roundtable will focus on how to build a Culinary Medicine program.
Culinary Medicine is gaining ground across patient care settings, but the path from concept to clinical program looks very different depending on where you practice. Whether you work in a solo or small group practice, a large multi-specialty group, or a major health system, the clinical case is the same: food-based interventions improve outcomes. The barriers—financial, operational, institutional, and logistical—are where the real work begins.
This roundtable brings together three culinary medicine-trained clinicians who have built and sustained real patient care programs across distinct practice environments. Their models share a common thread: patients don’t just receive nutrition counseling—they see, taste, and touch food. Hands-on culinary medicine, whether delivered in a teaching kitchen, a community space, or a virtual format, is central to how these programs drive behavior change and measurable health outcomes.
Together, they’ll walk through what it takes to get a culinary medicine program off the ground: building the clinical and business case, identifying the delivery model, navigating billing and sustainability, and measuring outcomes that matter to leadership and patients.
Whether you’re still making the case internally or actively building your program, you’ll leave with a clearer roadmap and concrete strategies you can apply in your own setting.
Topics include:
- Building the clinical case for culinary medicine: what evidence matters and how to use it
- Building the financial and business case: billing, revenue models, and pro forma thinking
- Delivery model options: shared medical appointments, group visits, virtual and hybrid formats
- Referral pathways and EHR integration
- Operational realities: staffing, kitchen logistics, food procurement, and space
- Measuring and reporting outcomes for clinical and financial impact
- Scaling and sustaining what you’ve built
Register for the Roundtable Now!
ACCM Recorded Culinary Medicine Roundtables
The ACCM offers four Culinary Medicine Roundtables per year. Topics range from picky eaters to culinary medicine program building to nourishing when using GLP-1 agonists.
All of the roundtables are free.
Designed for healthcare professionals, culinary professionals, and culinary medicine educators, events are presented live but we also record the webinars and you can watch them on demand. Most are available for up to two hours of continuing education credits for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.
Register for an ACCM Roundtable Now!
Culinary Medicine in the News
Help Patients Boost Health With Better Nutrient Absorption
To facilitate patient action and understanding of nutritional absorption, Ronald R. Quinton, MD, board-certified thoracic surgeon, medical director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine and an adjunct professor at Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, suggests this message you can offer your patients.
“Your body needs to get the right nutrients from the food you eat to help you lose weight effectively. When your gut absorbs vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients well, it helps your body turn food into energy better. This means you can burn fat more easily and feel full longer, so you eat less,” he said.
Arkansas Tv Introduces New Slate Of Original Programming
“Arkansas Taste Kitchen” premieres Thursday, July 9, at 7 p.m.
Created in partnership with the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, “Arkansas Taste Kitchen” features beloved media personality and host Craig O’Neill alongside local Master Chef and Instructor Dr. Robert Hall and UAMS Culinary Medicine nutrition expert Alyssa Frisby, who demonstrate that meals can be affordable, healthy and delicious no matter the budget or level of cooking experience.
More Than a Cooking Class: Lessons from Culinary Medicine
Beyond the culinary skills and nutrition lessons, one of the most meaningful takeaways from the conference was the value of community. Having teammates to collaborate and create with transformed the experience from a stressful challenge into an enjoyable adventure. Like many of life’s richest experiences, the greatest joy often comes from the people we share them with. Whether we’re learning to cook, improving our health, or pursuing other lifestyle changes, encouragement and support from others can make the journey not only more successful, but far more enjoyable.
Featured Recipe: Seared Tuna Steak with Sake-Wasabi Sauce
This is an incredibly easy dish and perfect as a simple weeknight meal but also for your next dinner party.
Searing any meat, such as tuna, makes for a rich and luxurious dish and is a healthy cooking technique. Make sure that the pan is very hot and add the meat carefully so as to not splash any hot oil.
This recipe is great served over brown rice but especially elegant with purple sticky rice or red rice.
Here are some other great tuna dishes salads for your weekly menus:
Seared Tuna Tacos
Sweet Red Pepper Barbecue Tuna
Tuna Noodle Casserole (with canned tuna)
Tuna Pesto Macaroni Salad (with canned tuna)
The ACCM website has thousands of recipes for you to try. Every recipe offers information on health benefits as well as potential allergies and are tagged to indicate whether they might be GERD friendly, gluten free, low sodium, safe for warfarin users, or safe for those who are lactose intolerant. This combined with the ACCM Med Diet Score application gives you amazing tools to eat great food that just happens to be great for you.
Upcoming Virtual Culinary Medicine Classes
The Health meets Food team has been offering virtual online hands-on Culinary Medicine programming for over 5 years. Participants use Zoom to gather, collaborate, cook together, and discuss case studies. Each module will follow the workflow of in-person programming and will take about 3 1/2 hours to complete.
For registration problems, questions, or for more event information, please contact Cecilia Hatfield at cecilia@culinarymedicine.org.
CME Module 17 – IBS IBD GERD: Friday July 17, 2026 4 pm – 7:30 pm EST via Zoom
CME Module 13 – Celiac Disease: Saturday August 15, 2026 12 pm – 3:30 pm EST via Zoom
CME Module 8 – The Pediatric Diet – Saturday October 17, 2026 12 pm – 3:30 pm EST via Zoom
CME Module 3 – Fats: Sunday October 18, 2026, 3 pm – 6:30 pm EST via Zoom
CME Module 16 – Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Friday November 13, 2026 4 pm – 7:30 pm EST via Zoom
CME Module 7 – Carbohydrates: Saturday November 14, 2026 3 pm – 6:30 pm EST via Zoom
Culinary Skills Building Videos are Now Available on YouTube!
Want to learn how to slice and dice from the pros? Have trouble with cutting up your onions or carrots? Join Culinary Medicine specialists online for expert instruction! You can find culinary skills building videos from the ACCM on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ACCM-HmF
In addition to culinary skills building videos and specialists sharing their views on Culinary Medicine, you have access to recordings from seven years of Health meets Food: The Culinary Medicine Conference, spanning from 2017 through 2024.
Be sure to click on the Subscribe button to be updated when new videos are added. We will be adding lots of new programming throughout 2025 to the channel.
Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Now
Recorded Culinary Medicine Roundtable: Culinary Medicine Roundtable: Reduce Picky Eating and Foster Healthy Food Relationships
The ACCM offered a Culinary Medicine Roundtable explores the foundation of responsive feeding through a powerful framework—a dynamic relationship between the clinical provider, parent, and child that supports the development of healthy eating habits for life.
This session includes a discussion of the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding Model with a validated assessment tool. The combination of these approaches are shown to reduce picky eating, increase dietary variety, and foster healthy relationships with food.
Moderator: Angela Fals, MD, FAAP, ABOM, CCMS
Speaker: Indira Abraham-Pratt, Ph.D., ABPP
Speaker: Christopher Schnell, RD
Once you have registered you will be able to access the materials and recording from the MyCourses dashboard on the CulinaryMedicine.org website.
See the Roundtable Recording Now!
ACCM Med Diet Score Application
What’s Your Score?
What if there were an app that could tell you what your Mediterranean Diet Score was?
You can do that now with the ACCM Med Diet Score, our flagship desktop and mobile app, designed to help improve the quality of the calories you consume.
The Health meets Food courseware teaches you how to eat great food, and the basis for our style of eating is the nine points of a Mediterranean-style Diet:
1. More vegetables,
2. More legumes,
3. More fruits and nuts,
4. More whole grains,
5. Better quality oils and fats,
6. Less land animal protein,
7. More seafood,
8. Less dairy and more reduced-fat and fermented dairy, and
9. Alcohol only in moderation.
Healthy Recipes
Med Diet Score includes over 2,000 healthy recipes, from Breakfasts to Desserts, created and tested by the Health meets Food team.
Meal Planner
Use Med Diet Score to create 2-week meal plans for one person, families, or groups – including shopping lists. Save time and money by planning ahead!
Food Diary
Track foods consumed using data from one of the most complete nutritional databases available anywhere.
Exercise Diary
Track exercise with calories calculated automatically. Connect common wearable exercise trackers such as Apple Watch and Fitbit.
But it’s much more than a food and exercise diary and calorie tracker!
It’s called Med Diet Score because it tracks your overall Mediterranean Diet Score according to the nine principles of a Mediterranean-style diet.
The Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist (CCMS) Program
The Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist (CCMS) designation identifies clinicians who have a unique foundation for incorporating healthy eating into patients’ diets: comprehensive knowledge of nutrition and the culinary techniques to prepare food that is consistent with real-world budgets, time constraints, and nutritional ideals. Physicians, Physicians Assistants, Pharmacists, Registered Dietitians and Nurse Practitioners are eligible for certification.
The hybrid 60-credit curriculum includes a distinctive combination of online nutrition education courses, live conferences, and in-person attendance at hands-on teaching kitchen modules. By completing the program, clinicians will enhance their confidence and quality of care by learning how to:
- Integrate nutritional counseling to supplement pharmacological treatment
- Educate patients about weight loss and weight management
- Develop practical examination-room dialogues that inspire behavioral change
- Implement new strategies in even the busiest primary care offices
Apply for the CCMS Program Now!
Culinary Medicine Programming for Chefs and Foodservice Professionals
The Advisory Board and the Health meets Food team is excited to offer pioneering Culinary Medicine programming for chefs and foodservice professionals. The programming is a 20 module series and the courseware will be available for culinary schools as well as a certification program.
Chefs and foodservice professionals are perfectly positioned to play a central role in changing the way Americans eat. However, many chefs and foodservice professionals feel their nutrition education and ability to communicate practical, effective guidance to consumers as well as their skill to produce food that is healthy and delicious is lacking.
The Certified Culinary Medicine Professional (CCMP) program provides foodservice professional at any level with a unique combination of nutritional knowledge and improved healthy culinary skills so that they can effectively incorporate healthy options into menus to help consumers.
Through certification, foodservice professionals will enhance their knowledge, confidence, and skills by learning how to:
- Evaluate and apply the most rigorous current research to menu and recipe development.
- Enhance the quality of meals prepared.
- Improve the diet quality especially targeting diet-related chronic diseases
Featuring a hybrid 45-credit curriculum comprised of online education, live conference learning, and hands-on teaching kitchen modules, the CCMP program is designed for those passionate about integrating science-based nutrition research into their culinary skillset and will equip candidates with the nutritional knowledge and culinary skills to optimize health.
View the program’s hybrid curriculum and steps towards certification.
Free Food Security Continuing Medical Education Online
The Health meets Food team offers free continuing medical education programming focused on food security issues:
1. Food Security in Older Adults
2. SNAP and WIC
3. Food Banks and Medically Tailored Meals
This is a significant issue for many in our society and the courseware covers background as well as actionable information for healthcare professionals. All three of these modules are also available for use by partner sites using the Health meets Food courseware for healthcare professional students.
