Nutrition In News
Jean Claude Mutala
9 Ways to get in on Cauliflower Trend
I got my article “9 Ways to Get in on the Cauliflower Trend” from U.S. News Health posted on March 23, 2016, at 6:00 am and written by Janet Helm, MS, RDN, who specializes in nutrition and culinary communication. She is an expert at translating the science of nutrition into intelligible words- and great food choices. Janet Helm is the author of a book with cooking light magazine: “The Food Lover’s Healthy Habits Cookbook”, and is co- founder of the Nutrition blog Network and Healthy Aperture.
In the article, Janet called cauliflower “The king of all vegetables”; although, kale seemed to dominate the vegetables conversation for the past years, satisfying carnivores, vegans and gluten free devotees alike.
Cauliflower is nutritive though it has a pale color. It belongs to cruciferous vegetable family like broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and all contain glucosinolates that contribute to plants defense against pests and diseases, but are also enjoyed in small amounts by humans and are believed to contribute to the health promotion properties of cruciferous vegetables.
In short, the author wanted to introduce readers on the unique aspect about cauliflower on how it's being cleverly converted into so many different things, from rice to pizza crust, and it's going incognito in everything from pasta, soup and meatballs to smoothies and desserts. Janet said that there is “9 ways to get in on the cauliflower trend”: mash it, steak it, rice it, crust it, dip it, popcorn it, pasta it, bread it, and buffalo it.
Article Critique
The article is relevant to me since the author is a specialist in nutrition and culinary communication especially when she brought the scientific evidence of cauliflower belonging to cruciferous family and containing the glucosinolates that inhibit the development of certain cancers. Besides, the ways of serving cauliflower can meet the swallowing ability of consumers. For example: a patient who can only swallow soft food, his cauliflower has to be mashed in order to meet his satisfaction.
Taboola is a content marketing platform that provides a web widget to content creators on their website to offer additional links to related articles, videos, and slideshows, both from within the site and from other publishers. The present article on U.S News Health has been sponsored by Taboola, and the content of this article seemed to focus more on marketing aspect than the nutritional aspect of the cauliflower. It could be helpful to look side- by side comparison of different foods (vegetables) by seeing both compared, the consumer can make wise choices on what to eat. For example: carrot versus cauliflower to see which food has fewer calories, less fat, more protein, and more fiber. An uninformed consumer would focus on different presentation of the food, and not paying attention to the nutritive quality of the food. He might even be seduced by the fact that cauliflower is baked, riced, and etc.
It is always wonderful to have food well presented; however it is important to be aware of the nutritional aspect of the food. I would recommend cauliflower than carrot for someone who needs more fibers because it has more fibers than carrot. In addition, I would recommend cauliflower versus carrot to a consumer who has wounds/burns since cauliflower has more protein than carrot.
An article written by a nutritionist should have more details about the nutritional aspect of the food than its multiple presentations.
Reference
Helm, J. (2016, March 23). 9 Ways to Get in on the Cauliflower Trend - US News. Retrieved April 7, 2016, from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2016-03-23/9-ways-to-get-in-on-the-cauliflower-trend