Food Fights!
Week of July 27, 2024
Family Week at the Ranch is the perfect time for a little healthy competition! Join nutritionist-in-residence Tamara Freuman for a fun opportunity to learn about nutrition and local food traditions, play with your food, and use your knowledge to compete with your Ranch family for cheap prizes and priceless bragging rights. Everyone wins when you leave the Ranch with some healthy new nuggets to bring back home!
Children/ Tweens: The 4th Annual Great Guacamole Throwdown
Think you have what it takes to make authentic Mexican guacamole? Learn what makes a great bowl of guac and compete against your fellow Ranchers to create your signature version of this beloved dish. You and your teammate(s) will choose from a variety of fresh ingredient options and use a traditional molcajete and tejolote (Mexican mortar and pestle) to craft your delicious creation! Our panel of three expert judges will taste all of the creations and award prizes for the best-of across several categories.
Teens: 2nd Annual RLP Cake Boss Challenge: Quinceañera Fruit “Cakes”
The quinceañera is a time-honored Mexican tradition that celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday, similar to an American “Sweet 16.” No celebration is complete without a showstopper of a multi-tiered decorative cake. In this healthy competition, you and your teammates will compete to create the most beautiful, elaborate “cake”—made entirely of fresh local fruits carved into creative, decorative, Instagram-worthy imposter cakes. Our panel of expert judges will be on hand to demonstrate fruit carving techniques if needed and to crown one fresh fruit cake the winner. All the gorgeous creations will be devoured by RLP campers for their snack!
Teens & Adults: Food & Nutrition Pub Trivia Competition
Think you know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to food and nutrition? Are you a fledgling foodie or an expert epicurean? See how your knowledge stacks up compared to that of your fellow Ranchers in a spirited trivia showdown, where you’ll compete as part of a small team against other teams to answer Quizmaster Tamara’s questions and win moderately desirable prizes!
Adults: The Surprising Science of Gut Health
Gut health is on everyone’s mind these days, as the linkages between the composition of our gut microbiome and our overall health are increasingly revealed. In this session, we’ll dive into findings from the latest research on digestive health and the gut microbiome, unpacking some surprising research findings pertaining to how various foods impact the microbiome, elimination diets, probiotics, food additives, processed foods, and more. We’ll also touch on some cool new therapeutics in the field of digestive symptom management, including hypnosis, virtual reality, vibrating capsules… and more!
Tamara Duker Freuman, MS, RDN, CDN is a New York-based registered dietitian, author and America’s Trusted Digestive Nutrition Expert. A nationally-known authority on nutrition therapy for digestive diseases, Tamara is a member of New York Gastroenterology Associates, a private Manhattan-based practice. She earned a Master of Science degree in Clinical Nutrition from New York University and completed her training at Mount Sinai Medical Center. In addition to her clinical work, Tamara is a high-profile nutrition writer whose advice on healthy living and dietary management of digestive disease is read by hundreds of thousands of people each month via leading online media platforms. She has been featured in leading TV, print and radio/podcast media, including TV’s Good Morning America, Live With Kelly & Ryan, Inside Edition, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, Prevention, Women’s Health, The Huffington Post, CNN.com, SELF.com, and Business Insider. She is the author of the acclaimed book, The Bloated Belly Whisperer (St. Martin’s Press, 2018).