currents - Pacific San Diego Magazine

taste
WHAT’S COOKING
DINING OUT
COCKTAIL
Jimbo’s Markets Stacy Keck
Feed Your Mind
How what you eat (grey) matters
TOP: An assortment of brain foods from Jimbo’s market
ABOVE: Piatti chef Pepe Ccapatinta presents his salmonstuffed
avocados
B y C a t h a r i n e L . K a u f m a n
(aka The Kitchen Shrink)
When it was analyzed during
autopsy, Albert Einstein’s brain
was shown to have 73% more
glial cells than average. These cells
form during the embryo’s development, so Mama
Pauline must have been eating right while her
budding genius was still in utero.
Leonardo Da Vinci enjoyed a popular
Renaissance dish of grilled eel and orange slices,
and studies have shown that eating foods rich in
omega-3 fatty acids, like carefully chosen seafood,
may help boost IQs. Beethoven had a penchant for
strong coffee (60 beans to the cup), the Dalai Lama
is a chocoholic, and Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel was
a fan of green eggs and ham (made green by healthy
herbs, no doubt).
Einstein said, “There’s a genius in all of us.” If
he’s right, then perhaps all we have to do to realize
our mental potential is eat healthy foods.
Here’s a list of no-brainers.
Fish and Tips
Swap red meat for red snapper or other omega-3
fatty acid powerhouses (especially wild-caught, deep
sea, cold-water varieties) including salmon, herring,
sardines and mackerel. One of the omega-3s in fish,
DHA, is a key building block in components of grey
matter. So, a diet rich in omega-3s may keep brain
cells well-lubricated and vibrant, improving mood,
brain-wiring and cell-to-cell communications. That
all adds up to quick thinking. Wild-caught salmon is
also a rich source of niacin, which is believed to ward
off age-related cognitive decline from dementia and
Alzheimer’s disease. As Dr. Seuss says, “One fish, two
fish, red fish, blue fish.”
Pepe Ccapatinta, executive chef at Piatti in La
Jolla Shores, puts sardines, wild-caught salmon and
anchovies on his A-list of brain foods.
“A lot of people don’t like sardines because of a bad
experience as kids, but they need to move beyond that
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