Add (No) Oil: Plant-based, Oil-free Eating with Michele Wisla
Article by Nicholle Yu
On the afternoon of Saturday, 14 August 2021, Slow Food Hong Kong welcomed Michele Wisla, a plant-based certified nutrition coach and founder of Our Conscious Kitchen to talk about whole-food plant-based diet. Michele had begun her career in the fashion sector and found herself with certain health ailments after years of gruelling hours. She began to explore a whole-food plant-based diet and found a myriad of health benefits that came with the diet. Such a diet emphasises whole, minimally processed foods and focuses on plants, including vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and etc. Michele lost 20 pound and found herself with more energy. Currently, Michele is practicing evidence-based nutrition coaching and culinary nutrition.
Michele first debunked some common misconceptions regarding the difference of oil and fat. While fat is essential to our diet for absorption of certain vitamins, oil is not as essential to our diet as we may think. Oil is very calorie dense. When we squeeze the oil out of olives to make olive oil, the oil is 100 percent fat and a tablespoon of the olive oil contains a whopping 120 calories. Instead of consuming such a calorie dense food, we can consider consuming other types of healthy fats that are also filled with vitamins and minerals such as avocados, nuts and tofu.
Michele then introduced the famous Blue Zones study which explores certain regions of the world where people live considerably longer lives. The five locations that are studied include Lomo Linda, Sardonia, Okinawa, Icaria and Nicoya. One of the factors of the long livelihood is the diet of the people in these regions. It was found that inhabitants in these areas prioritised a diet that is rich in plant-based products. Meat, fish and dairy products may be consumed, but in lower amounts. Inhabitants of these regions also do not fall into the habit of over-eating.
After debunking certain health myths and introducing us to the Blue Zone study, Michele provided pointers on how we can all adopt an oil-free method of cooking while still enjoying our favourite recipes that involve stir-frying and sautéing. She explained how she prepared crispy sweet potato fries and caramelized onions without using oil. Michele recommended us to cut the potatoes in the same size and to use a small amount of vegetable stock while baking the sweet potato fries. Similar to the method of roasting sweet potato fries, Michele also recommends using a small amount of vegetable broth to caramelize onions and to also use a stainless steel pan. It was fascinating to learn that despite the lack of oil, we could still caramelize onions.
Finally, Michele explained how we can make sauces and dressing without oil. Some examples of sauces that we can make without oil include nacho ‘cheese’ sauce, spicy curry sauce, avocado ranch and plant-based Caesar dressing. Other types of fats can be used to substitute oil such as avocado or tahini.
It was a very informative and interesting session, we can’t wait to try some of the cooking techniques that Michele introduced us to!