Celebrity chef Bobby Flay may not be the best judge of healthy cuisine, being the owner of Bobby's Burger Palace, but that didn't disqualify him from weighing in on Aetna Inc.'s “Healthiest Chef” competition.
His favorite dish so far?
“I'm hearing a lot about the turkey burgers,” he said during a preliminary match held Sept. 1 among six Aetna employees at the insurer's Hartford, Conn., headquarters.
The six were chosen by the Culinary Institute of America of Hyde Park, N.Y., from 205 contestants.
Although the goal of the competition is to increase the use of fruits and vegetables and limit fat, it was blue cheese turkey burgers on whole wheat buns that won the employee-only cook-off that day.
Still, the Aetna Healthy Food Fight is expected to heighten awareness of what makes a meal healthy among Aetna's 19 million medical members and perhaps the nation as a whole.
“We believe that this campaign will create a community-based dialogue around healthy eating and healthy living that will live well beyond the campaign itself,” Frank McCauley, head of Aetna's local employers and consumer business, said in a statement.
The competition now is open to the public. There will be local cook-offs in 10 cities across the country, starting in Rockaway, N.J., and ending in Los Angeles, where Mr. Flay will complete the judging.
The overall winner will take home the title of America's Healthiest Cook and $10,000 in kitchen appliances.