The Culinary Oncologist

After 30 years in the field, Birmingham, Alabama, oncologist Luis F. Pineda, MD, says he still gets frustrated when patients don’t enjoy eating. “At the end of the day, I wanted to know what I could do to help people with cancer eat better,” says Pineda. “I was interested in the biochemical changes that happen with taste and smell.” So Pineda attended culinary school every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a few years. The end result: a cookbook called Prescription to Taste: A Cooking Guide for Cancer Patients. Full of chili-laced entrées and desserts (to spark appetite and squelch nausea), it can be downloaded for free at www.cookingwithcancer.org.