Books

In his latest book, Food Shaman: The Art of Quantum Food, Chef Dr. Mike — Interventional Cardiologist, Professional Chef, and Professor of Culinary Medicine — separates fact from fiction and wheat from chaff. He invokes the power of the total Food Experience that every chef and foodie understands. Through the Food Experience, he explores the softer edges of how we eat. The experience of that relationship, between us and how and what we choose to eat, sets the foundation of health and well-being or disability and despair.

The Food Experience is the quintessential Big Bang of food in a powerful explosion of ceremony and substance. Through the lens of culinary medicine, Chef Dr. Mike combines modern knowledge from a variety of disciplines with the ancient ritual of the first chefs and healers: the shaman. The result is a quantum leap in understanding the power of the Food Experience beyond basic nutrition and why we nurture our soul through delightful tastes and textures.

The Egyptians, The Greeks, The Mayans, The Vikings and others—what made them great?

How did they do it?

No individual, certainly no civilization, can ascend to the heights of art, philosophy, science, engineering, and combat that withstand the test of time without the proper fuel.

Dr. Michael Fenster (Chef Dr. Mike), Interventional Cardiologist, Professional Chef, and Professor of Culinary Medicine, takes you on a journey through time to learn the secrets entombed in the cuisines of the Ancient Greeks and The Vikings and what remains today. Explore the Classical Greek Mediterranean Diet following the trail of one of Western civilization’s first food writers, Archestratus. Jump on board the longboat and witness a Viking raid. Hidden amongst these tales and legends in this historical food journey are secrets that may hold the key to rescue us from the illnesses associated with our modern Western diet.

Our modern Western diet delivers us unto the chronic illnesses of modern civilization: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disease, neurologic disease, and autoimmune disease. These and other such scourges have their root in inflammation.

For the first time, Chef Dr. Mike, Interventional Cardiologist, Professional Chef, and Professor of Culinary Medicine, reveals the connection between the foods we eat, systemic low-level continuous inflammation, and the maladies we suffer. It is the how and the why of the ills associated with the modern Western diet—an addictive construction built for shelf-life and profit—not for health or taste. He explains how we are hardwired to seek out sugar, salt, and fat. Chef Dr. Mike examines the data as a scientist, but also with the eye of a chef. It is this unique perspective that fosters a deep understanding and appreciation for the experiential nature and integral role that food and cuisine have in our society. Chef Dr. Mike supplies the knowledge to craft a prescription to break the vicious cycle of addiction at the heart of the modern Western diet.

Everyone loves to eat. And everyone wants to be healthy. But how do we navigate between today’s extremes? How do we sail between those offering us gluttony through the siren song of convenient junk food and those preaching salvation only through tasteless deprivation? In his first book, Chef Dr. Mike draws upon his expertise and training as an interventional cardiologist and as a professional chef to forge a path through this wilderness. In a series of short vignettes and sample recipes, he offers readers a middle path that delivers food both heavenly and healthy.

In his forthcoming book, Chef Dr. Mike, Interventional Cardiologist, Professional Chef, and Professor of Culinary Medicine, shares his journey into the evolving discipline of Culinary Medicine. He describes and defines what Culinary Medicine is—and what it is not. He shares the five Ps at the heart of his Culinary Medicine approach: Presence, Patience, Passion, Perspective, and Persistence. The foundation built upon the practice of these ideals is critical not only for success in the Culinary Arts and the Medical Sciences, but life in general. These principles form the very basis of establishing a healthy relationship with food and understanding The Food Experience.  This experience and its role as a form of social currency affect our relationships with each other, society, and the world at large. These relationships, when healthy, are the core constituents of a long life of good health, well-being, and happiness.