Course not currently being offered.

Introduction to Vegetarian Nutrition and Food Service

COURSE INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE: This course is intended to acquaint the student with the vegetarian lifestyle. Topics will include types of vegetarians, recipe and menu design, careers in vegetarian food services, ethnic cuisines, ingredient selection, vegetarian nutrition and health trends, and vegetarian business topics. Originally designed as an advanced nutrition class for culinary students, the course has been expanded to include topics of interest for everyone interested in food, health, small business, and vegetarianism. The course is presented at college level, for students interested in both vegetarianism and in understanding the workings of the health and food service industries.

PREREQUISITES: a basic understanding of nutrition (equivalent to a college level introductory nutrition course for non-majors) is recommended, but not required. Ability to type coherently for submission of assignments and exams. Since this course will cover both the nutritional aspects and business aspects of vegetarianism, students should be interested in learning both aspects.

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD, CCE
Contact:
[email protected]
(213) 763-7331 (Pacific time) office hours Monday-Thursday, 7-8 am or by arrangement
P.O. Box 13034 Long Beach, CA 90803

REQUIRED MATERIALS (and how to get them) There are two required texts for this course
1. Simply Vegan (D. Wasserman, 1997)
2. Vegan in Volume (N.D. Berkoff, 2000)
These books can be purchased directly from The Vegetarian Resource Group via our online bookstore. Simply Vegan is $13 and Vegan in Volume $20. To order over the phone with a Visa or MasterCard, call (410) 366-8343 M-F 9-5 (Eastern time). You can also send a check to The VRG, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.
Please call (410) 366-8343 if you have any questions.
The books will be sent RPS/UPS or USPS.

Recommended (not required materials) include:
A basic nutrition or biology text (for reference)
Access to current food and health books and magazines, such as Prevention, Vegetarian Times, Food and Wines, local newspaper food sections (many times can be found online, such as Philadelphia Inquirer Food Section and LA Times Food Section), ethnic and vegetarian cookbooks, etc. Check out your local public or college library, as well as online resources.

The student needs to have regular access to the web and e-mail and must be able to submit class assignments and exams to the instructor via e-mail, snail mail or in person.

LECTURE DELIVERY Lectures will be posted on the web at http://www.vrg.org/berkoff/index.htm and students may access them at any time and as many times as they like. If students have any difficulty accessing the lectures, please contact [email protected].

VRG Enrollment Fee
The enrollment fee to take this course is $100 ($90 for VRG members). You can enroll over the phone with a Visa or MasterCard, call (410) 366-8343 M-F 9-5 (Eastern time) or e-mail [email protected]. You can also send a check to The VRG, PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.
Please call (410) 366-8343 if you have any questions.

STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTION
Students can e-mail [email protected]
Phone (213) 763-7331 (Pacific Time). Office hours Monday-Thursday, 7-8 am or by arrangement
Or write P.O. Box 13034, Long Beach, CA 90803

Be sure to check in with the instructor periodically and be sure to answer instructor’s e-mails or written notes promptly! Be sure to notify instructor of any change of e-mail or physical address.

TIMELINE
For students who would like to submit assignments: assignments are due when posted on the lecture schedule. Information on how to obtain the final exam will be posted on Lecture 18. The final exam must be submitted to the instructor no later than two weeks after Lecture 18 is viewed.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS
Basic information about class projects is listed below. There will be more information provided, such as forms, resources, etc., as the course progresses

1. LABEL PROJECT (worth 20 points) (due on Lecture 11)

• Collect labels from 10 vegan products that you, family members, or friends eat.
• Analyze them for nutritional adequacy, both the good points and bad points. Make some suggestions for improvement of choices
  For example:
  Chili-lime tortilla chips: 200 calories/serving, 70 milligrams sodium, 80 calories fat
  Good news: vegan, high in fiber, some B vitamins and calcium
  Bad news: high in calories, high in fat, high in salt
  Suggestions: select baked tortilla chips, or even better, fresh tortillas, steamed and eaten with salsa.

• visit a local supermarket (not a natural foods store, farmers’ market, etc). Identify all fresh and processed vegan items available by preparing a list of products with three or four word descriptions. No, you don’t have to identify every type of fresh produce or dried bean. Give descriptions for the processed products, such as “Asian soy dessert - almond flavored tofu.”
• Design a vegan, hot and cold take-away salad bar for the supermarket. Be sure to include twenty cold items and ten hot items.

• visit a local non-vegetarian restaurant and obtain a menu. Rewrite the entrees and desserts as vegan options. In addition to nutritional balance, you will be critiqued on color and flavor balance.
• design a one-week vegan menu, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each meal shall include an appetizer, an entrée, two side dishes, dessert (except for breakfast) and a beverage. You can choose any style of menu you like; catering menus for those students interested in starting a business (take advantage of having a professional critique), health care menus, ethnic menus, menus for a child’s school, for a vegan athlete- use your imagination! In addition to nutritional balance, the menu will be critiqued on color, flavor and practicality.

VRG Home | About VRG | Vegetarian Journal | Books | Vegetarian Nutrition F.A.Q. | Subscribe to Journal | Game | Vegetarian Family | Nutshell | VRG-News Recipes | Travel | What's New | Bulletin Board | Veg Kids | Search | Links

© 1996- The Vegetarian Resource Group PO Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203 (410) 366-8343 Email: [email protected]
			Last Updated January 31, 2002	Graphic design by
		The contents of this web site, as with all The Vegetarian Resource Group publications, is not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. All contents of these lectures are copyright Chef Nancy Berkoff and The Vegetarian Resource Group. Web site questions or comments? Please email [email protected].