An Interview With Martita Mestey
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. So simple but incredibly understated. So often we do not ask questions for fear of sounding dumb. I never went to culinary school and I still became a sous chef. I didn’t ask nearly as many questions as I wish I did because there were times I was embarrassed that I was not formally educated. In retrospect, I wish I had asked some of my fellow cooks how to make all of the classic French sauces and how to properly break down and debone a chicken. These are valuable skills that I lack simply because I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know something.
In this interview series, called “Chefs and Restaurateurs Helping To Promote Healthy Eating” we are talking to chefs and restaurateurs who are helping to promote and raise awareness about healthy eating. The purpose of the series is to amplify their message and share insights about healthy eating with our readers. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Justine Rosado.
Justine Rosado is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and Certified Diabetes and Care Specialist (CDCES) based in Queens, New York. She began her career as a professional chef and was inspired by the relationship between food and health, prompting her to pursue her passion of clinical nutrition. She currently works as an outpatient dietitian providing individualized care for diabetes and weight management patients.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restauranteur or chef?
Of course! Ever since a young age, I’ve always been fascinated by food. In high school, I got very into playing “chef” whenever my friends came over — meaning that I’d always be the one in the kitchen meticulously plating up our burgers and heating fries from the freezer. In retrospect, this was odd behavior for a 15 year old girl as most of my friends had very different hobbies and didn’t really care whether the fries were the frozen Ore Ida brand or delicately roasted fingerling potatoes.
What ultimately convinced me to become a chef was honestly the glamor of it. On the outside looking in, chefs appear to have the coolest jobs. Especially a chef living and working in NYC! I liked the fast-paced environment, obsession with detail, and access to the highest caliber food products such as prime meats, local vegetables, and imported cheeses.
When I finally started working in the culinary industry back in August 2010, I was in for a rude awakening. My first cooking job was at the beautiful Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona. I knew next to nothing about cooking, having no formal experience at the time. I was simply on vacation when my aunt asked the chef if I could come work there and learn the ropes. Several months later, I packed my bags and left for Arizona.
I worked at the resort for 9 months and then returned home to NYC, determined to land a job in a good restaurant. I ended up taking a job at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ABC Kitchen in May 2011, where it recently won a James Beard award for Best New Restaurant.
Fast forward to 2022 and I happily have pivoted to a different yet related line of work. I am a registered dietitian and my primary work is outpatient nutrition counseling. My specialities are in weight management and diabetes. So much of what I do now revolves around helping people develop a healthy relationship with food. Learning to eat when we are hungry and stop when we’re full is certainly a skill and not an easy one to master.
Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?
As a former chef, I don’t really have one specific food that I focus on since so much of my work revolves around encouraging people to eat a wide variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
A passion project of mine is sourdough bread baking. This became a HUGE hobby for folks during the pandemic as it does require a lot of downtime for fermentation and proofing. I’m obsessed with sourdough because of how therapeutic the process is and how transformative the product is. With only 3 ingredients — flour, salt, water — such an incredible product can be made.
What first drew me to baking bread was a chance meeting with the infamous Jacques Pépin. I was touring a culinary institute in Manhattan as a prospective student and I had just finished checking out the facility. He was passing me by in the hallway and starting asking how I had enjoyed the tour. I just remember him being so incredibly friendly and genuinely interested in my assessment of the culinary school. We chatted briefly and before leaving he insisted that I take home a few freshly baked baguettes from the school kitchen. I’ll never forget the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the hallways and the kindness of this culinary legend.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that has happened to you since you started? What was the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
The most interesting story that has happened to me since I started is really at the beginning of my journey. It happened before I ever stepped foot in a professional kitchen. For years I had dreamed of going to culinary school. I had even applied, gotten accepted and received thousands of dollars in scholarships. But before officially enrolling, I took a vacation with my mother and aunts to Arizona to celebrate my graduation from college. Along with an obligatory trip to the Grand Canyon, we traveled to the picturesque area of Sedona, Arizona which is famous for stunning red rocks and spiritual vortexes. We were having dinner at the Enchantment resort, a 4-star establishment known for its unique location deep within Boynton Canyon. The drive alone to the resort is sublime and we were loving every minute of our very elaborate, expensive dinner.
While we were at dinner, after having a bit too much to drink my aunt started oversharing with the waitress. She was mentioning how much I loved to cook and had finished college a year early so I could finally get started in culinary school. She told the server to let the chef know that I’d like to come and work there for a bit and without hesitation, he agreed. Quickly thereafter, I packed everything up and moved from NYC to Sedona, Arizona without a single bit of culinary experience.
My first job was as a prep cook and though I was surprisingly green, a few of the cooks were super helpful in teaching me a few tricks of the trade. In retrospect, it was the best initial experience I could have ever asked for. Within 2 months I graduated to a line cook and learned every station at the restaurant — garde manger, fryer, saute, grill, even a bit of pastry. It was exciting, completely wild, and I probably would have never come back to NYC if my entire family and at the time my girlfriend (now wife) wasn’t eagerly waiting for me to return. I never ended up going to culinary school since I realized that hands-on restaurant experience was so much more valuable. I got a job at ABC kitchen while still living in Arizona and began working there as soon as I arrived back home.
The biggest take away or lesson from my story is that networking truly is everything. Sometimes it feels awkward to put yourself out there and converse with strangers but had it not been for my aunt and her over-the-top personality, I never would have had the courage to speak to the waitstaff about a potential job. You don’t get what you don’t ask for. It’s the reason why I take every phone call (even if it says potential spam!), follow every lead, take every interview (even for jobs I don’t intend to take) and always keep in touch with former colleagues, co-workers, etc. Because you simply never know what could materialize.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
The chefs at ABC Kitchen truly molded me into the professional that I am today. Their influence from over 10 years ago lingers. It still informs the way I cook today — lots of herbs (cut delicately with the sharpest knife), acid (specifically lemon), seasonal produce, tons of black pepper, and incredibly vegetable-forward meals.
If I specifically had to pick a mentor or cheerleader, however, I would have to name my mother. She helped me succeed because although she did not always understand it, she was nothing but supportive of my culinary career. She allowed me to live at her home and accept low-wage cooking jobs so I could learn the ropes. Although she was sad when I could not attend important events such as Christmas dinner or a weekend family reunion, she unconditionally loved me and recognized the amount of
I have early memories of how she used to cook and her exceptional creativity. She was always experimenting with different flavors (cinnamon in the meatballs!) and tried to prepare healthy options for us (such as tofu lasagna).
In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?
Playing with texture and having enough salt. Texture is a huge factor in terms of creating satisfying dishes. Even if we are unaware of it, we like the mouthfeel of different textures. It heightens the eating experience and gives us that warm fuzzy, ‘feel good’ type of feeling during a meal. We like the contrast of crunchy combined with soft, we like the creaminess of ice cream and the crispness of potato chips. In kitchens, chefs are well aware of the need to pair certain textures together to create a successful dish.
I work as a dietitian and when people tell me they don’t like salad or vegetables, it often is related to textural issues and preparation methods. We want to treat vegetables with care, not over or undercooking them. For salad, we want to chop finely and add all types of fun components — shaved radishes, toasted nuts or seeds, chewy sourdough croutons. All of these pops of flavor elevate the dish considerably.
In addition, salting foods properly is key to creating a successful dish. Salt enhances the flavor of food, making them taste like what they’re essentially supposed to taste like. Most home cooks are notorious for under or over salting foods. Salt does need to be added at multiple steps in the cooking process and the best way to ensure appropriate seasoning is to taste the dish as it progresses. Pasta and vegetable cooking water is a good example of something that should be very salty (like the ocean) as the food will not absorb all of this salt but without enough, the final product will suffer. I always recommend kosher salt which has larger grains making it easier to control the amount added (versus iodized or table salt).
Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal’ for you?
Neapolitan pizza — classic margherita with buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomatoes, and big leaves of basil cooked to blistering perfection in a wood fired oven. Very few ingredients but spectacular quality — this is my favorite meal on planet earth. Pair it with a Caesar salad with homemade dressing and there is literally nothing better in my opinion.
Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?
I try to focus on seasonality. Though we live in an environment where most fruits and vegetables are available year-round, I still find the best quality for foods is during their peak season. So I’ll try to eat berries during the summertime and winter vegetables (such as kale, brussel sprouts) during the appropriate season when these items are harvested. My inspiration truly is whatever looks good at the farmer’s market on a Sunday afternoon.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?
I am! My colleague and I have just launched our telehealth nutrition counseling business. We specialize in weight management and diabetes care, as we both work in the outpatient nutrition space and are certified diabetes and care specialists (CDCES). Any free time we have is being poured into the business, as we’re really passionate about getting it off the ground.
The impact I think it will have is twofold — of course the obvious reason is that people will improve their traditional markers of health — weight, overall fitness, and clinical lab values. In addition, we are confident that our counseling will help individuals build a healthier relationship with food. We’re ultimately in the business of helping folks learn how to enjoy food without guilt or repercussions. I’m really excited to bring in some of my culinary skills as well to help individuals learn how to craft balanced, healthy meals. I would love to fuse these professions of mine in some way, perhaps by introducing cooking demos and pantry cleanouts. Lastly, we want to create a podcast where we speak to all different types of health and wellness professionals, find out what their “food philosophy” is and how they’re connecting with their clients to promote it.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently leading an initiative to help promote healthy eating. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
Sure. My organization is called “The Nutrition Queens” and we’re a team of registered dietitians based out of Queens, New York (the most diverse place in the world). I work virtually with clients one-on-one and help them facilitate lifestyle changes. We operate primarily through the lens ‘medical nutrition therapy’ which focuses on evidence based care. When we are counseling clients, we focus on research backed methodologies which support weight loss and blood sugar control.. We are trying to help combat the obesity epidemic, which has reached staggering heights here in America as more than two-thirds of adults or overweight or obese at this time. We offer real, actionable advice based on what the client is willing to change and do not prescribe any fad diets or supplements as these have not yielded long term sustainable results for diabetes and weight management patients.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
Working as an outpatient dietitian for several years has ignited my fire . While I enjoy counseling all types of patients (ranging from pediatrics to high risk maternity), I realized that I am particularly adept at counseling patients on how to lose weight in a safe, effective manner. A common thread amongst most of my patients was their desire to lose weight and feeling of hopelessness that it was not possible for them. Society has certainly made it difficult to lose weight with our obsession with super size portion sizes and sedentary lifestyle. I teach my patients how to create environments that ultimately support weight management and we also focus on small, consistently made changes for big results. When people are eating a healthy diet, they genuinely look and feel better and that is inspiring to me. My success truly is their success and I try to straddle the line between pushing them to work harder and understanding how challenging the entire process can be.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was helped by your cause?
My wife has undeniably changed her eating habits because of me. We’ve been together for 13 years now and each and every day I’m impressed by how we live out a healthy lifestyle in so many different ways. We actually met waitressing and when I told her I wanted to become a chef she was unconditionally supportive. Since we both worked in the restaurant industry for many years, food is our love language and the way in which we take care of each other. I share my knowledge of nutrition with her and have definitely influenced her to eat more vegetables. Nonetheless, she continually impresses me by being the better cook. Being of Dominican descent, her foods are always seasoned just right and she cooks with so much passion. In our household, the emphasis is on cooking healthy foods from scratch and the richer things in life (warm gooey chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken, etc.) in moderation.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
1 — Make healthy foods more accessible and affordable. I’m a big fan of public health initiatives such as Health Bucks which provide coupons specifically for fresh fruits and vegetables at NYC farmer’s markets. We need more programs that incentivize folks to eat healthy by lowering the biggest barrier to entry — cost.
2 — Emphasize that the general public should get their nutrition information primarily from registered dietitians. We are the nutrition experts and can guide people with evidence-based recommendations. Too often people get their nutrition information from alternative sources which may not be as reputable.
3 — Teach nutrition to school-age children including education in elementary school as well as high school. Most people do not know how to read a nutrition facts label. We can change this by providing nutrition education consistently throughout the developmental age. Oftentimes when curriculum is removed, nutrition and home economics classes are the first to be cut. We need legislation in place which protects nutrition education and emphasizes its importance for public health.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Chef or Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.
- Stress and strain are a part of the process whereas humiliation and verbal abuse are not. I have been in far too many situations where chefs have screamed at me for the tiniest mistake and gotten a pass simply because they’re the chef. Similarly, I’ve been in scenarios where I’ve seen chefs lose their temper and fling cast iron pans at dishwashers. While there can be a healthy amount of stress in a high pressure environment such as a kitchen, there is never a legitimate reason to embarrass and/or verbally abuse someone. I was once reamed by a sous chef in front of the entire lunch and dinner staff for pre-grinding a pint container of black peppercorns. It ultimately made me resent the chef and failed to teach me some big, overarching lesson. Most restaurant staff could benefit from the establishment of an HR department to protect them from the militant atmosphere that still exists in many kitchens today.
- Start with the highest quality ingredients. This is such a no-brainer to me now, but it was not something I was always cognizant of as a young chef. Looking back now, I realize that if the ingredients are subpar the final dish will suffer tremendously. Too often, home cooks try to use vegetables which are on the verge of going bad or cheese that contains anti-caking agents. Right from the very beginning, the ingredients have to be able to stand on their own in order to elevate the final dish. For example, take the extra step by purchasing really good olive oil or herbs and you will be grateful when you sit down to eat.
- Focus on nutrition above flavor. I’m still learning to embrace this mantra. As a chef, we are often told to focus on making the diner crave our food and keep eating (often beyond the point of satiety!). This involves manipulation of flavor, texture, and acidity. It’s why we use tons of butter and salt in restaurant foods. Nutrition is thought to be secondary. In my professional life now, I preach to individuals that the emphasis should be on eating nutritiously rather than eating hedonistically. Healthy food can absolutely be delicious but it does require creativity and treating foods (especially vegetables) properly.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. So simple but incredibly understated. So often we do not ask questions for fear of sounding dumb. I never went to culinary school and I still became a sous chef. I didn’t ask nearly as many questions as I wish I did because there were times I was embarrassed that I was not formally educated. In retrospect, I wish I had asked some of my fellow cooks how to make all of the classic French sauces and how to properly break down and debone a chicken. These are valuable skills that I lack simply because I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know something.
- Arrive early and leave late. This is so difficult to do when working in restaurants but it really does make a massive difference in terms of your mindset. Arriving early allows you to come up with a gameplan and triage accordingly. Leaving late means you’ve cleaned your workstation sufficiently and that you’re probably a team player too, helping others clean as well. This is a transferable skill to any industry as those who arrive early and leave late really do set the tone that they will do whatever it takes to get the job done properly.
What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?
Omitted as per Yitzi — I am not currently a restaurant chef.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Michael Pollan. I’m such a huge fan! I’ll never forget when his book “Food Rules” came out. I felt as though someone had finally put into words some of the personal philosophies that I’d been subscribing to for many years. I just love his outlook on food and nutrition so I would love to experience sharing a private breakfast or lunch with him. I’m guessing we’d eat plant-based foods but also indulge in moderation and it would be divine.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
My blog is https://www.thenutritionqueens.com/blog and instagram — @thenutritionqueens are the best ways to follow my work online.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Thank you! It was my pleasure.
How Justine Rosado Of The Nutrition Queens Is Helping To Promote Healthy Eating was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.