She also gave cooking classes on healthy eating, menu planning, living foods, macrobiotics, sugar- and dairy-free desserts, and much more. Yeshi’s first restaurant emphasized healthy options from her native Ethiopian cuisine and gluten-free options. Although they are referred to as diets, we have to acknowledge that they are both lifestyle choices, and we have to look at the concept as a whole.” It is important to explore them both from one’s own personal needs. “From my personal experience,” says Yeshi, “both diets are very healing despite their different theories and approaches. She has also studied macrobiotic and living food (raw) diets, or lifestyles, as she prefers to call them. Wigmore was the person behind wheatgrass juice therapy-a movement that exists to this day. Early in her food and nutrition education, she got to learn from Dr. Throughout the course of her training, she has studied with prestigious doctors such as Dr. Yeshi knows firsthand the healing power of healthy, nutritious food. However, gluten-free, low-sodium, low-fat, sugar- and dairy-free options can easily be incorporated into any menu.” Yeshi adds, “I also believe training kitchen staff in healthy cooking styles is critical, since besides ingredients, the way we prepare food contributes to the quality and the healthiness of the meal.” Yeshi says, “Even people with the same issues have specific needs that are relative to the overall constitution of the individual. You’ll often be able to offer a higher quality product for less.Īlso, dietary needs vary from one individual to another. In other words, if fresh greens are out of season and incredibly expensive in the fall and winter, offer some nice squash and root vegetables instead. The trick is finding locally sourced, seasonal food and comparison shopping between food distributors. The cost for healthier, higher quality ingredients can discourage caterers and customers. Other barriers may prevent caterers from venturing into healthier food options. Even sick people would prefer the types of food they are used to although it has contributed to their health conditions.”
She blames this on “lack of awareness or simply because their tastebuds are accustomed to salty, fatty, unhealthy food. Yeshi knows that this growing number of health-conscious patrons is still in the minority.
Once you have your go-to recipes and substitutions that you like to use, this type of cooking quickly becomes second nature. She also notes that catering to vegan, diabetic, and other health-conscious diets is just like any other kind of catering.
People with no food allergies, diseases, or strong food preferences- everyone can benefit from eating healthier,” she states. “Offering healthy options isn’t exclusive-it’s inclusive. Yeshi doesn’t think you have to sacrifice one set of clients for the other. With more people choosing to abstain from certain foods for ethical reasons (such as vegans and vegetarians) or for health reasons (such as diabetes, allergies, heart disease, etc.), could catering to special diets be worth it for you?Īnd if you decide to cater to special dietary requests, how can you cater to special requests easily without changing your entire menu and business-and without driving away business from folks who still want their chicken wings and mozzarella sticks? How do you strike a healthy business balance, so you’re adding to your clientele, not trading one set of patrons for another? In our last blog, we started to explore the growing interest in catering to special diets with health coach, speaker, and caterer Yeshi Demisse.