Food art and science commingled warmly, if sometimes warily, at The Culinary Institute of America’s fourth annual Worlds of Healthy Flavors conference, held in January at the CIA’s Greystone campus in St. Helena, Calif. The organizing principle, wise in its intent and fascinating in action, is to bring together chefs—for whom a dish is an amalgam of flavors, textures, aromas and colors—with nutritionists whose viewpoint is more academic and less sensual. Their interest is more in ingredients’ impact on a body’s blood-glucose levels, for example, than in how those ingredients may taste.

The gap between these viewpoints is wide and not always easily bridged, as was clear during the conference’s give and take. But the chefs and scientists who participated shared two core beliefs: that those who prepare and serve food bear some responsibility for guests’ health and well-being, and that healthful foods need not be flavorless, especially given our access to a pantry of global ingredients, many of which remain underutilized. Greg Drescher, the CIA’s executive director for strategic initiatives, summarized the common goal as seeking “ways to make plant foods as sexy as cheeseburgers.”

No one understands the difficulty of such a task better than Dan Coudreaut, director of culinary innovation for McDonald’s, which was an occasional target of nutritionists’ criticisms but which also justly was credited for expanding its salad options and introducing ingredients such as edamame to consumers who otherwise never would have tried them. McDonald’s certainly shares prevailing concerns about consumer nutrition, Coudreaut said, but he cautioned scientists that operators can’t be expected to force change. “Our biggest challenge is in bringing the customer along with us” as McDonald’s weaves more healthful options into its menu, he said. “We can’t go farther than our customers will allow us to go.”

Such competitive realities sometimes proved difficult for nutrition scientists to accept fully. Why would you serve a muffin the size of a softball when such a portion clearly is nutritionally unwise, they ask. In answering, Tom Gumpel, Panera Bread’s director of bakery development, related that when the chain introduced smaller-portion Mini Bundt Cakes, customers gleefully ordered them … in multiples.

Several people on both sides of the aisle advocated the “stealth health” strategy of making foods more healthful without ballyhoo or “better for you” labeling. “Don’t talk about it—just do it,” urged Dieter Hannig, vice president of food and beverage new concepts for Walt Disney World Resorts.

It’s a shame that those consumers who doubt the foodservice industry’s commitment to its customers’ health couldn’t listen to the discussion. They would understand that what foods consumers ask for, rather than what foods are offered, are the keys to improving nutrition and health.

shume@reedbusiness.com