Tasty, yet healthy dining options with Celebrity
Celebrity Cruises, the world’s first cruise line to be invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House, and the first to bring its award-winning, fresh-from-scratch cuisine to land through popup restaurants in San Francisco and New York, has announced yet another culinary “first”- a partnership with SPE Certified to expand its healthy dining options with scientifically grounded, third-party validation of their merits. Born from the Latin phrase, Sanitas Per Escam, or “Health Through Food,”SPE Certified is a unique certification and consulting program designed to enhance the nutritional quality of meals without compromising taste. SPE’s team of experts include chefs, nutritionists and registered dieticians who collectively take an innovative and scientific approach to certifying dishes – essentially, giving them their seal of approval – based on a specific set of criteria, including seasonality, sourcing, sustainability, ideal portion size, and the assurance that every dish they certify is low in salt and saturated fats, low in processed ingredients, and dense with nutrients, including vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And the “tastiest”asset for consumers is that SPE certification ensures that each dish is not only nutritious, but also delicious. It can be done, and SPE Certified has proven it, at Michelin-starred restaurant “Rouge Tomate”restaurant in New York City, where the divergent worlds of nutrition and fine dining seamlessly combine to create such palate-pleasing dishes as Brook Trout a la Plancha, Bison Ribeye “Pot-au-Feu,”Local Tomato Gazpacho, Hudson Valley Rabbit “En Croute,”and Squid Ink Fettucine – all entirely free of cream or butter, typically considered central to the ingredient arsenal of accomplished chefs. Now, SPE Certified’s high set of standards will be applied to certifying more than 60 dishes on the menus of Celebrity Cruises’ main restaurants – including such selections as Salmon Tartare with Celery Root Puree, Trout Roe Caviar, Dill, Apple and Pumpernickel; Roasted Pork Loin with Smoky Red Cabbage, Butternut Squash and Cranberry Jus; Seared Branzino with Parsnip Puree, Lentils, Spinach and Pomegranate, and Molten Lava Cake – as well as every dish on the menus of the line’s refreshing AquaSpa Cafes. (http://www.celebritycruises.com)
