Organizing a Healthy Gourmet Group

The premise of a healthy gourmet group is simple; members of the group agree to research for heart-healthy recipes, prepare the food, and share a gourmet meal to be hosted on a rotating basis. The fruits of your labors are learning new and exciting ways to prepare healthy food, being able to entertain more affordably and more frequently, and developing long-lasting friendships.

Most gourmet groups involve eight to twelve people, whichever number can be comfortably seated around the dining table of the participants. Groups can be limited to married couples, a mix of women and men (married or single), or a group of all women or men (married or single) with four to six teams of cooking partners. Can't boil water without burning the pot? Not to fear: if you can read, you can, and will, learn some cooking skills as the year progresses. While some groups allow only members to attend the dinners, we found it interesting to have the "host" couple invite a couple of guests. This not only added new topics to the dinner conversation, but it often spawned new friendships. You might also want to stipulate that if regular members are unable to attend a scheduled dinner party, they must send an alternate in their place so that the gourmet group maintains its designated size and all of the dinner courses are covered by cooks in attendance.

Scheduling a dinner party every six to eight weeks seems to work best. This leaves sufficient time between gatherings to keep them special. In the beginning, you'll need to schedule a meeting amongst the members to choose the dinner theme and schedule the parties with the host couples. At this meeting, it's important that you discuss any special dietary needs and food allergies of the group so these can be taken into consideration when it's time to plan the menus. For reference, you'll find several dinner party menus in our earlier book, The Joslin Diabetes Gourmet Cookbook. Since the book was considered to be a breakthrough book on dining healthy, you'll find one or more copies in most every library throughout the United States. Or, you can purchase a copy from our book store. Beyond that, look for these key words when reading cooking magazines and cookbooks: "heart-healthy", "low-fat", "low-protein"... you know the regime. Just remember to count your carbos and discuss with your dietitian or diabetes educator if you have questions about portions and how to adjust your insulin/medication, if necessary. Try to remember that in a gourmet group, the food is the vehicle for getting together and having a memorable time with other people. You'll feel better after the meal and the next day if you exercise some restraint when offered a dish that you know will make your blood sugars soar. If you're tempted, look at the most attractive person at your table and most likely you'll see that person is more interested in the conversation and paying very little attention to the food before them. Since everyone's on a "diet" these days, no one will think twice if you don't eat a particular dish or stop after one small bite.

At least two weeks before the dinner, the host couple should have finished their research on the menu and distributed copies of the menu and recipes. Most gourmet groups use one of three preparation plans:

1. Host provides main course and assigns recipes for the rest of the meal to the other cooking couples that will be prepared up to a point at home and brought to the host couple's home for reheating or completion. Host is responsible for getting the house ready, setting the table, selecting the beverages, arranging the flowers, etc. This division of responsibilities usually results in an equal distribution of work effort and money spent during the course of a year's parties.
2. Host shops for the meal and sets up cooking stations with ingredients, cooking utensils, and serving dishes in place along with a copy of the recipe at each work station. Everyone cooks at the party. Host gets the house ready and sets out the table linens; dinnerware, glassware, and cutlery; vases for flowers, etc. Everyone pitches in as cooking duties allow to set the table, arrange the flowers, and so forth. If a recipe involves a special technique, this organization plan allows those less proficient at cooking to learn from others. This division of responsibilities usually results in an equal distribution of effort and money spent during the course of a year's parties.
3. Although we've never participated in a group organized in this manner, some groups arrange for the host couple to plan and prepare the whole meal. With this type of organization, the host can discreetly split the costs between the participating couples or at the end of the year, totals can be tallied and compensations made.

While guests gather and participants make last minute preparations on their part of the meal, we suggest a bowl of pureed spicy white beans to spread on crostini (garlicky toasts). About this time of year plum tomatoes are wonderful and the basil in the garden is growing waist-high. Together they are splendid in a piping hot soup that will take off the chill of the early autumn evening. The secret to the soup is a smidgen of gin, but if you prefer, you can use extra lemon juice. The main event is Grilled Tuna Steaks which have been marinated in a pungent mixture so that the fish is infused with flavor in just 15 minutes. With the tuna we're serving a savory couscous with the surprise addition of arugula. Dessert is a yummy Lemon Pudding Cake that we developed for our earlier cookbook which Fine Cooking Magazine dubbed as "the best diabetic dessert we've tasted--everyone will love this!"

(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)