CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (July 10, 2025) — Sometimes I shake my head, marveling at young people eager to serve food at a dinner event for dozens of people. My young friends and I recently proved you can feed 175 people with good, healthy meals cooked that day from scratch.

We offered barbecued flank steak, marinated in chimichurri sauce (see the chimichurri recipe at the end of this column). Joining the steak on the grill was asparagus spears. Asparagus is especially tasty now at farmers’ markets.

Diners also had a choice of salmon with tomato basil salsa or eggplant parmesan with polenta – those recipes have run with previous columns.

The occasion in late May was the annual spring gala of the East Bay Health Center in Lafayette, a concierge service that employs me in offering culinary medicine for patients seeking to improve their diets and their cooking.

At the health center’s teaching kitchen, I have mentored some high school and college-age students interested in food service jobs. I’ve also given classes for elementary school kids who learn some basic cooking skills, including knife skills.

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At the gala, the teens and young adults worked all day prepping dishes, helping to make desserts and serving the food. The elementary school students – festive in bow ties – served the desserts.

The dinner speaker was Dr. Rob Lustig, a mentor of mine collaborating on “The Fat Chance Cookbook.”

Lustig, an emeritus professor of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, fervently advocates (for decades) for less sugar and more fiber in people’s diets – as a weapon in fighting the epidemic of chronic diseases in our culture.

“I believe in culinary medicine,” he told the gala audience. “Fix the food. Fix the health. Fix the future.”

He said it’s important that Generation Z doctors, such as those who founded the nonprofit East Bay Health practice (doctors Naomi Breckon and Tracy Hu), are committed to culinary medicine.

Chimichurri recipe

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 small red chili, seeded and diced (or 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes)

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Add the chopped parsley, garlic, shallot, oregano, red chili, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely minced.
2. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and pour the extra-virgin olive oil over the mixture. Gently mix to combine.
3. Allow the chimichurri to stand for 15 minutes.
4. Serve over your favorite grilled meats and vegetables or use as a marinade.