Medical students learn healthy cooking at LIJ Valley Stream
Executive Chef Russell Ficke has been leading the program for the past five years, teaching future medical professionals how food can serve as medicine.
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Medical students from the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University are trading stethoscopes for spatulas this semester, taking part in a hands-on elective at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital that blends medicine with the art of cooking.
Executive Chef Russell Ficke has been leading the program for the past five years, teaching future medical professionals how food can serve as medicine. Over the course of four classes, students step into the hospital kitchen to prepare nutritious recipes while also observing how meals are made for patients.
“Seeing where they were on day one to today's the last day, just how far they get in four classes, they're pretty much on cruise control. I give them the recipe. They know where everything is.” Ficke explained.
On the menu for the final class were dishes designed to appeal to children, including cauliflower mac and cheese, where the vegetable serves as a healthy filler, and a “hidden burger” packed with zucchini and yellow squash. Other recipes taught during the elective included butternut squash and white bean quesadillas, sweet potato fries, spaghetti squash pasta, peanut butter and banana roll-ups, and sautéed Swiss chard.
“If you eat better, you’re going to be healthier. Maybe you cut back on medications, maybe you live longer,” Ficke said.
Students say the program is about more than cooking - it’s about preparing to advise future patients on nutrition and preventative care.
“I’m just trying to learn more about how to counsel my patients, how to live better myself,” said fourth year medical student Maia Pavlovic of Great Neck. “And it’s incredibly important for preventative care, especially for young people.”
After each class, students share the meal they’ve prepared, reinforcing the communal aspect of food and health. And with graduation just months away, the hope is that these future doctors will carry the lessons forward, helping patients make healthier choices - one recipe at a time.
“They can take what I’m showing them and they can pass it on to their patients,” Ficke said.
