Play With Your Food: A Dietitian’s Directive

Dietitians = the Food Police, right?

Well, no, but surely that’s what a lot of people think. There’s this idea that dietitians were put on Earth to take the fun out of food. To tell us “Don’t eat that. It’s not good for you.” In caricature, we’re a mob of carrot-crunching, fun-sucking, vegan macrobiotics who love nothing better than to judge other’s choices and deem them “healthy” or “unhealthy.”

In real life, though, we are the opposite. We LOVE FOOD. We love to talk about it, be around it, read about it, look at pictures of it, and – yes – write about it. Being friends with dietitians is great, because there is always someone asking me to sample this, or try that, or sending me a recipe, or saying, “OMG did you see last night’s Chopped episode on the Food Network??” We seriously love food.

We Want You to Play With Your Food

Yes, we are health-centric and so often – though not always – our food choices are as well. However, we still like to have fun with food, to try new things, and to play around with flavors and textures. And, we want you to as well.

To prove my point, I’m sharing with you all the cool images I built with the leftover raw veggies from dinner. I hope this makes you smile, and convinces you that I really do want you to play with your food 🙂

“What? We’re out of Ranch dressing?!”

Ellie Krieger for president!

No, I won’t smile. I don’t carrot you want.

I promise I won’t double-dip again. Really, I’m sorry. 

“Expelli-hummus!”

 “Yes, I am a Ninja. No, I won’t give you carrot-ay lessons.”

This is Burl Ives.  

There you go. Hope you enjoyed this recipe-free, fun-filled post. If YOU play with your food, feel free to post a photo on my Juggling With Julia Facebook page!

Happy Wednesday!