Chef Linh Casuccio doesn’t like the word “diet.” She likens dietary preferences to fingerprints, and thinks people can enjoy the foods that they prefer while staying healthy if they embrace a balanced perspective that emphasizes growth rather than deprivation.
“A lot of people focus on what they can’t eat,” she explains. “A goal of mine as a chef is to teach people to make the list of what they can eat and go with that list. Focusing on what we can’t do is not beneficial. But looking at the list of what we can do opens things up for us.”
Chef Linh is a classically trained personal chef who, thanks to her mother’s airline discount as a flight attendant, grew up experiencing the world through food firsthand. This was her inspiration to move from her home in Colorado to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Her specialty is global cuisine and includes American regional cuisine.
Iconic chef Alice Waters influenced Chef Linh’s approach to food and cooking, which is characterized by seasonal, fresh ingredients prepared simply. The idea is not to cover up food with sauces that mask its flavor but instead to allow it to taste the way it’s supposed to, lifting its flavor by using ingredients such as fresh herbs, spices and zests. She also eschews meals that are “over-processed,” going through many hands or manipulated in several ways by the time the finished product is served.
She certainly gives her clients what they want, but balances that with what they need in regard to medical, religious or even professional considerations.
Notably, Chef Linh cooks for some of the Buffalo Bills, men whose very livelihoods depend on how well they eat. She acquired these clients when the Bills organization vetted and forwarded the names of personal chefs to the players who needed them. Within days before the start of the 2016-17 season, three signed with her for the whole season and an additional three or four came aboard intermittently, for a special circumstance, whether for weight loss, weight gain or to feed based on a condition a player may have. During the season, she shopped for food and cooked five to eight meals at individual players’ homes every day. Now, she prepares meals in a commercial kitchen, allowing for meal delivery. Chef Linh says she’s blessed to feed people whose nutrition is such an important component of their work and that her cooking helps keep them healthier. However, it’s not without its challenges.
“There are no books that tell you how to feed an NFL player,” says Chef Linh. So she created spreadsheets to curate each meal, keeping attention on the variables. A nutritional profile, determined by the team’s dietician, spelled out very specific dietary needs. These particulars, plus every player’s activity level, which changed daily, informed the amount of protein, fats and carbohydrates in their plans. Finally, the chef also had to consider the individual’s personal taste. She adds that it’s critical to balance their dietary needs with their preferences.
“No matter how good food is, if you’re not feeding people what they want to eat, they’re not going to eat it,” Chef Linh explains.
She maintains that there are ways to prepare meals that people want to eat while still making them healthier and delicious—a lesson even for people who don’t suit up for the gridiron on any given Sunday.
“I can make fettuccini Alfredo and an entire serving will have maybe a tablespoon of parmesan cheese,” Chef Linh says. “Besides that, it can be dairy-free. It will be just as creamy without the cream. I may use chicken broth instead of half-and-half or milk. With a really great parmesan cheese that has very sharp flavor, you need very little. So now, as opposed to this fat-laden recipe, you have something that is healthier.”
Instead of people veering away from a treat and depriving themselves of something that they absolutely love, she also recommends savoring slowly without distraction, which will allow for more satisfaction.
“Put your phone down, turn the TV off, and sit there and enjoy your piece of cheesecake,” Chef Linh says. “Otherwise, it’s not enjoyed. You really don’t feel like you had it, so you go back and have a second piece.”
Looking to the future, Chef Linh will still be cooking for her regular clients and catering special events. However, she sees that working with professional athletes has given her more of an opportunity to not just cook but also to heal with food. Using the lessons that she’s learned from serving sports figures, she says she’s interested in working with dieticians and nutritionists to help feed anyone looking to eat better for their health. She envisions helping people who are undergoing chemotherapy or who are otherwise recovering from a hospital stay, so when they return home they can concentrate on healing.
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