A Spoonful of Immunity?

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: February 17, 2008

LOS ANGELES

DR. TEA KNOWS BEST Mark Ukra prepares a tea blend in West Hollywood.
FIRST there was vegetarianism, which begot veganism, macrobiotic adherents, raw foodists and something known simply as “the cleanse.” Now make way for immunity-enhancement, via your chopped salad and salmon tartar.


California has long led the country in the creation and fortification of urban food ways. The state was on the forefront of restaurants devoted to raw food and was the birthplace of the organic produce movement. In Los Angeles, vegan restaurants are nearly as prevalent as hamburger joints.

Now, restaurant menus here are marrying the broader commercial movement of “functional” foods — those stuffed with heavy doses of vitamins and antioxidants — and a national fixation on immunity boosting (a fizzy gulp of Airborne is as much a part of the pre-flight experience as a baggage check).

In Beverly Hills, Crustacean, a modern Vietnamese restaurant, has attached an icon to the left side of several menu items letting diners know that those dishes supposedly boost immunity. At M Café de Chaya in Hollywood, a macrobiotic restaurant often dotted with celebrities, the chef, Shigefumi Tachibe, has “items that offer both immune boosting and healthful benefits for everybody,” said his spokeswoman, Cindy Choi.

Down Melrose Avenue a bit from M Café is Dr. Tea’s Tea Garden and Herbal Emporium, where immunity enhancement is always part of the menu, said Dr. Tea, a k a Mark Ukra. “We work a lot with cancer patients to bring their immunity up, and lots of people come in to get our tonics to get rid of the flu,” he said.

Foods that its makers claim enhance the immunity system have become increasingly mainstream over the last several years. Jamba Juice led the charge years ago, and has spawned many competitors serving juices sprinkled with supplements that claim to strengthen the body’s ability to prevent illnesses. Airborne, drinkable vitamin blends that claim to be armor against germ-filled environments, have flooded drug stores over the last several years.

There is supplement-infused Spava coffee, which offers an immunity formulation with rose hips and echinacea. Green Giant, the food manufacturer, has something in the marketplace called Immunity Boost, which are microwaveable frozen vegetables. Yoplait Essence Immunity Boost has “probiotics with zinc and iron,” also meant to charge up the system.

But in Los Angeles, the connubial relationship of farm and pharmacy in restaurants is on the march. The former unadulterated pleasure of simply dining has been replaced with the feeling of a very expensive clinic.

“People more and more are understanding the importance of good health, and how priceless it is,” said GT Dave, a former Beverly Hills High School student who started his company, Millennium Products, in his kitchen at age 16. He now distributes Kombucha juice, which claims to enhance immunity, in restaurants around Los Angeles and Whole Foods stores nationwide. “Previously, health foods and health products were a very niche product, like for Berkeley free-spirited tree-hugging people,” he said. “Now people realize that the immune system is the foundation of our lives.”

At Crustacean, immunity-enhancing menu items do not have supplements. Instead, the chef and owner, in consultation with a nutritionist, went through the existing menu and plucked out offerings that they believed were already naturally helpful.

Each item is marked on the menu by a little leaf representing a Vietnamese herb, just as one might see a heart icon next to an egg-white omelet at a diner, indicating that the meal is low in cholesterol. “The hope is that this system could be used by other restaurants,” said Ashley Koff, the nutritionist who consulted on the menu.

For example, there is the Buddha roll, which has shiitake mushrooms (which have iron and Vitamin C, Ms. Koff said), lemongrass mushroom soup (lemon grass has folate, zinc and iron) and wild salmon tartar, which features cucumbers (vitamin C, folate and vitamin A), wild salmon (omega 3, selenium), garlic (selenium, phytochemicals) and red onion (vitamin C and copper, among other things).

“What I looked for were ingredients that brought forward minerals and phytochemicals,” Ms. Koff said, referring to chemical compounds derived from edible plants and fruits that are believed to aid cancer prevention. So how did it taste to this reporter? The lemon grass soup has a nice bite, and the Buddha roll has a clean fresh flavor. The chicken roulade and roasted fillet of sole were dull to this tongue; all was far more delicious than standard health-food fare.

The immunity enhancement does not end at the table — you can sit at the bar and pickle yourself while ostensibly warding off disease and calamity. There are martinis made with vodka and goji berries (antioxidants) or cucumbers. Taste note: both have a strong vodka top and fruity finish.

Experts on microbiology are decidedly mixed on the value of such menu designations. Michael Starnbach, an associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School, said the heart icon might help diners, because it would warn of foods proven to be bad for your cardiovascular system.

But, he said, there is not enough hard evidence to prove that any food can enhance the immune system. “There is no doubt these menu items have these nutrients,” Mr. Starnbach said. “But that is different from the claim being made on the menu.” Unlike many health-food restaurants, Crustacean, a family business, started out as a Vietnamese restaurant, without overt health claims. The An family’s first restaurant, Thanh Long, opened in San Francisco in the ’70s in an old deli purchased by the family, still in Vietnam at that time, as a foothold into the United States. The restaurant remains there today.

The An sisters, eager for a hipper place to go with their friends in the city (four out of five girls are in the business) pushed for Crustacean, which opened in 1991. Then came the Beverly Hills outpost in 1997.

The Ans were always health conscious. “I was born into a family where we care about health,” said Helen An, the matriarch of the family, who is also head chef. “I learned Eastern medicine from my grandparents.”

Whether the immunity-marking trend has legs remains to be seen, but given the packed scene at M Café every lunch hour eating “the big macro burger,” and kale salad with peanut dressing, it certainly is hot.

Whether patrons are warding off illness will remain a subject of debate. “I would have a positive reaction to seeing that menu,” said Linda Gooding, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Emory University School of Medicine. “But as a scientist I would say that’s a personal preference. That’s not a scientific fact. Eating is a lifelong experiment. I think that’s all you can do.”

Related Posts by Categories