Hi everyone, SLU dietetic intern Libby here!
Often when mentioning to new people that I am currently completing a dietetic internship and studying to become a registered dietitian, most assume that I am going to work clinically or start a private practice. It is no secret that there are many different directions one may go within the profession of dietetics, but I feel like the culinary entrepreneurship realm deserves a bit more of a spotlight and I am here to do just that by answering a few questions I often get!
Why did you decide to apply to the culinary entrepreneurship concentration of the dietetic internship?
When doing research on different dietetic internships to apply for in undergrad, SLU’s program pulled me in for many reasons, but the fact that they have a culinary entrepreneurship track was at the core of it all. This concentration provides interns the opportunity to not only practice medical nutrition therapy, but also develop strong business skills and learn how we can become entrepreneurs as dietitians. It is a long-term goal of mine to open a restaurant someday with a focus on sustainability and highlighting local, in-season foods. I strongly believe that it is important to have a nutritional lens when one is cooking, and I want to share with my community how that can be produced and consumed in fun ways in a location where all are welcome. This concentration and internship has truly been a dream come true and I am very thankful to be a part of it!
Typical Day Schedule:
Every Monday all of the interns gather to have have sessions dedicated to different important topics where local dietitians come to talk to each SLU intern about what they do and how we can improve our own patient/client care. On some Mondays we also have garden sessions at local schools, nutrition educations and post clinicals. Tuesday through Friday we are all at our different sites seeing patients/customers/clients or completing rotation checklists. Depending on the semester, concentration-specific Master’s classes are in full swing as well!
How does the culinary entrepreneurship concentration compare and differ from the other concentrations (MNT, Pediatrics, Sports Nutrition)?
Here at SLU, day-to-day culinary entrepreneurship internship life in terms of rotation experience really doesn’t differ much from the other concentrations. We each are set up to complete around 1200 hours of rotations divided among clinical, community and foodservice sites within a 15-month period. And just because I’m a culinary intern doesn’t mean I get more time in foodservice rotations than the others. This is one of my favorite aspects to this program because we are all provided equal opportunities to learn in each of the different parts of the dietetics world, but there also is a strong culinary focus for community rotations and the master’s portion of the program.
Where concentrations do differ comes down to our master classes and capstone/thesis topics. The culinary entrepreneurship program includes nutrition-based classes, new venture entrepreneurship classes where you get to practice creating your own start-up company, sustainable food systems, finance, marketing and organizational management. Our capstone/thesis is to be culinary or foodservice based as well.
I have teamed up with 2 other culinary interns, Samantha and Mikayla, and we are creating a book for our capstone project called “Everyone Has to Eat”. It is a 2-in-1 cookbook and guide with over 60 delicious, plant-forward recipes, as well as guide to making intuitively healthful decisions when dinging out. We hope to provide the tools to making better, budget and time friendly food choices to the busy young adult. We are still in the development process but plan to be selling it come mid-April, so keep your eyes peeled for a post about it on the SLU Nutrition and Dietetics Instagram page - @slunutrition1818.
What has been your favorite rotation this far and why?
I was lucky enough to get to spend 6 weeks of my foodservice rotations working at Fresh Gatherings, the cafĂ© located in our departments Allied Health building. This has been my favorite rotation because it was really my first experience working in a fast-paced foodservice environment where I got to do the all of prepping and cooking. I was able to work with a team to develop several lunch special menu items, as well as a few salads for the grab n’ go refrigerator. This was the first time I really got the opportunity to menu plan, develop and serve menu items for the masses and it was a very exciting experience. Two really fun items I got to help create were a Birria Crunchwrap and a Thanksgiving burrito with all of the classic fixings – which may sound interesting but sure was delicious. My experience at Fresh is something I know I will carry with myself throughout my future career as a dietitian to come!
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