Happy Gut

Question: What defines the meeting place between your plate and your health?  Where do the chef and the doctor meet on common ground?

Answer: Bouley Botanical.

On a Spring evening, April 19th, Dr. Pedre was invited to present at a special Happy Gut dinner at master chef David Bouley‘s Bouley Botanical restaurant space in Tribeca, New York City.

The event was part of Bouley Botanical’s Doctor and the Chef Series.  The evening featured a multi-course tasting menu, along with talks by Dr. Pedre and Chef David Bouley on healing through food.  The evening was a memorable, extraordinary culinary journey through multiple Happy-Gut-Approved dishes which we’ll recap here!

First, the space….

Elegant and open…filled with the scent of the live herbs growing happily!  Chef Bouley explained the special fans and environment cultivated for the health of these herbs.  Sixty diners came to the event.

The venue is filled with life, here is the stairwell column, which is covered in black felt pocket “homes” for each herb!

The juxtaposition of herbs and urban shows us we can find balance in the worlds which stimulate us and create health.

Below, is the “herb wall” separating the dining space from the kitchen.

The room filled with guests and Chef Bouley spoke about his background working with the freshest produce and re-visiting heritage methods to create purees and oils of garlic.

Chef Bouley calls these “basic tools” to have on hand as “building blocks’ in your kitchen that are anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory.

Chef Bouley next introduced Dr. Pedre, who spoke about the pillars of his Happy Gut Program.  Dr. Pedre aptly explained his analogy of a garden wall to illustrate what makes a healthy gut, as he explained on his Good Morning America segment, here.

Our gut lining is one cell thick with cells tightly compacted like the stones of a wall.  Many factors change the permability and thus the immunity defenses of our gut lining which in turn compromise our health.  These include pesticides; GMO foods, which now range from potatoes to fish; stress; gluten; acid and sugar imbalances…such a long list!

Thankfully, a happy gut is obtainable as outlined in Dr. Pedre’s book HAPPY GUT, The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain, and his cleanse program.

After Dr. Pedre’s talk, the most amazing appetizers began to appear.

This delicate crisp is made of kuzu, a low-glycemic, high-fiber Japanese root vegetable which will not bump your blood sugar.  Topped with black truffle.

Caviar was also served like this!

To cleanse the palate, a carrot and tumeric soup with prebiotic sunchokes was next served.  Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory spice that has far-reaching benefits, including reducing inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract as well as the brain, making it a potent superfood for preventing Alzheimer’s.  Then another prebiotic-rich vegetable, a delicate salad of fresh baby greens with asparagus appeared to continue to feed the friendly bacteria in the gut!

This was a concert of French Provence White, Jumbo Green and Pencil Asparagus swimming in Bouley Botanical Chlorophyll Blast and Fresh Passion Fruit.

As a first course, this moon-shaped dish appeared next with the first of the season, Wild Salmon with Organic Quinoa, Celery Root, Porcini Mushrooms and Ginger Yuzu Botanical Herbs Dashi.

The second main course was organic chicken, here opened so you can see all the delicious ingredients.  This was Pennsylvania Chicken with Wild New England Ramps, Wild French Blue Foot Mushrooms and Colorado Morels!

Dessert was another trip to a culinary flavor explosion, without the guilt of a high-sugar treat.  This sculptured beauty arrived.  Hibiscus Granite, when opened…

…revealed natural New York State Cascade Grape Sorbet, with Tahitian Vanilla ice.

So much inspiration, information and delicious tastes all evening, showing that eating for a happy gut is far from bland.  It is rich in colors, flavors, and textures. We thank Bouley Botanical, all the guests, and all our readers for their enthusiasm.  This kind of collaborative evening happily moves the realms of health and food closer.  We see that tending to our health (and our desire for delicious food!) can contribute to the health of the planet and even our LOCAL environment as seen by Chef Bouley’s example of housing a botanical within the confines of concrete Manhattan.  Ultimately, the doctor of the future will bring out a recipe pad, instead of the prescription pad, directing their patients to join them in the kitchen to cook up healing recipes.

The cure is in the kitchen!

Stay tuned for future events with Chef David Bouley.  Dr. Pedre’s Happy Gut Dinner was so popular, he has already been asked to return for a Fall event at the Botanical.

Best regards,

The Happy Gut Team