CHEF’S BITES
Spa-licious! Light, vegetarian spa-inspired foods are ideal for summer. Gabrielle Kurz, Resort Wellbeing Chef at Madinat Jumeirah, shows how to give your diet a spa makeover. Text SUDESHNA GHOSH Photographs CRIS MEJORADA
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orget boring steamed veggies and bland soups, eating light and healthy can be surprisingly delicious – if done right. As Gabrielle Kurz, Resort Wellbeing chef at Madinat Jumeirah (or Chef Gaby as she is popularly known) explains, “It is important to not just blanch vegetables in water and serve with some olive oil and salt on top – this is common, but is totally boring on the plate! Think how meat or fish is treated before it is cooked. It is marinated, seasoned or stuffed to enhance flavor. This needs to be translated into a plant-based cuisine to make it delicious and interesting too.” Defining spa cuisine as food that is based on natural, organic and wholesome ingredients, combined to nourish our cells that build a healthy and beautiful body, Chef Gaby further emphasises that spa cuisine isn’t just something you experiment with on the occasional visit to the spa, but it is simple enough to be incorporated into everyday life too.
52 BBC Good Food Middle East August 2012
“Most foods offered and consumed today are devitalised by processing and cooking. Foods are so heavily processed they become concentrated with harmful compounds,” she says. “However, spa cuisine is closer to nature and keeps natural products the way they are. The less food is cooked or processed with heat or too many steps of preparation, the more health benefits remain to be absorbed by our body.” “Spa cuisine relies heavily on raw foods such as salads, fresh pressed juices and sprouts – all this is not complicated to make. But, of course it is important to understand the cuisine, what combines well with each other and what are good preparation methods for each ingredient,” she adds. While spa cuisine isn’t necessarily completely vegetarian, Chef Gaby recommends eating more vegetarian food as part of a healthy eating plan. “Vegetarian food has several benefits. For example, it helps to reduce acidity in our system, supports detoxification and slows down the ageing process through its richness in antioxidants,” she says. She also advocates a focus on live foods in order to maximise the nutritional benefits of each ingredient. “Live foods are foods which have been recently collected, grown in good soils, are uncooked, sprouted, or have been naturally fermented like yoghurt and miso. They are not only extremely nutritious and easily digested, but live foods build life force giving us vitality and stamina,” Chef Gaby explains. Spa cuisine is based on a few simple principles. A daily diet containing a colourful and fresh variety of fruits and vegetables; nuts, legumes and wholegrain products; a good selection of raw food; and minimal junk food, sugary soft drinks, white flour, white sugar, and deep fried food. It is that easy! If you aren’t convinced, try these recipes at home to see it really isn’t difficult to take a step in the direction of promoting health and beauty from the inside out. Your body will thank you for it!
Chef Gaby’s rules of thumb for spa-style eating: s 1UALITY Use the best quality ingredients, and try and go for fresh, organic and natural. s 6ARIETY Eat a rainbow of colours, including black and white. For example, black berries over purple like red cabbage and purple potatoes and white radish or dairy products). s 7HOLESOMENESS Eat vegetables and fruits with their skin if possible, include hulled starches and avoid bad carbs like white sugar, white flour, and peeled rice. s "ALANCE Maintain a 35 per cent raw and 65 per cent cooked food ratio in your diet, and include a significant amount of living foods such as sprouts. s -ODERATION Keep portions moderate and choose cooking methods such as steaming rather than frying, to avoid loss of valuable nutrients and to prevent challenging the digestive system.