1. Breaking from tradition
The Mediterranean diet can help reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases, Kerri Dotson, culinary medicine educator at Tulane University’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, shared in a general session presentation. Operators don’t have to add traditional Mediterranean dishes to share the diet’s benefits with diners, Dotson said, proposing that they incorporate aspects of the diet into mainstream offerings. She suggested adding fruit to salad bars and in desserts, as well as tweaking dishes such as pasta with meat sauce by replacing some of the meat with fiber-rich, low-sodium lentils.