Hunting for Health

Growing up in New Orleans' food culture helped Julie Stewart, food service manager at SAS in Cary, N.C., begin a career in foodservice. Now, she is working to help people enjoy food that is healthy and tastes good, including some Southern favorites like red beans and rice.

A childhood filled with indulgent New Orleans cuisine ironically led Julie Stewart, food service manager at SAS in Cary, N.C., to seek a career as a dietitian. However, an aversion to hospitals led her to find a place in corporate foodservice via schools.

“Growing up in New Orleans, your life revolves around food. Most people eat to live but in New Orleans we live to eat. You spend breakfast talking about what you will have to eat for lunch and dinner. Some of my fondest food memories are of my father or uncles coming back from a fishing trip with a bounty of seafood. We’d plan our meal around the fish, shrimp or oysters caught on the trip. Where nutrition came in was in the fact that my mother was a nurse. Through her I became interested in some kind of medical field, but I have a squeamish stomach.

I decided to become a registered dietitian because I could help people be healthy through lifestyle changes instead of medically. Thirty-five years ago, when I was coming out of school, dietitians worked in hospitals. I knew from my rotations that I wasn’t going to be able to work in a hospital. I talked to my adviser and told her I thought I was going to change my major. She had foresight that a lot of other advisers might not have and told me I could work in other foodservice establishments—other places need dietitians.

My professional beginnings were actually in school foodservice. I worked with the Louisiana Department of Education. So my beginnings were in school foodservice, doing nutrition education and training. I worked with the school systems for 10 years before I moved to business and industry.

Growing up in New Orleans, you don’t think about what’s healthy, so the interest in nutrition came later on. I think it was because I really liked science and learning about nutrition, and once I learned the things that are good for my body, I started to enjoy it even more. I still cook New Orleans and Southern food, but I do it with less fat. I have revised a few of our favorite recipes to make them healthier such as red beans and rice and jambalaya.”