Spotlight
Kenny Wagoner, Executive Chef
Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Southwestern Regional Medical Center
Ask Chef Kenny
Have your own question about nutrition?Ask the Chef!
Born in Ireland, Kenny Wagoner moved to the United States with his mother, father and siblings. His career in the culinary field began as a culinary apprentice with the Westin Hotels in 1990. After working his way up through kitchen positions such as a Garde manager at resorts and working as the fine dining chef in top hotels across America, Kenny came to CTCA in July of 2003 as the Executive Chef.
Kenny has a close family tie to cancer. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. Part of Kenny’s commitment is dedicated to providing CTCA patients with nutritious meals that are equivalent to food served in fine dining establishments.
One of Kenny’s most well known and growing contributions to the Tulsa breast cancer community at large is Chefs for the Cure, which is held at CTCA and benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure in Tulsa. Kenny organized Chefs for the Cure in 2005 by contacting his chef friends. This event has increased from 14 chefs the first year to 35 chefs in 2008 with an attendance of approximately 400 people.
During National Nutrition Month, Cancer FightersSM met with CTCA Executive Chef Kenny Wagoner to talk about the importance of nutrition and fighting cancer.
Q & A with Chef Kenny Wagoner
What role does Food Services play in patients' fight against cancer?
It is important to make sure that our patients eat. Our job is to make sure that they have as much nutritious food as possible to fight their disease. All of our recipes used here at Southwestern are approved by our dietitians for nutritional content.
It is also important that the food we prepare looks appealing to patients. People eat with their eyes first. If the meal does not look appetizing, our patients will not eat it.
What about flavor? Is that important in cooking for patients?
Definitely. I use a lot of tomatoes (lycopene), garlic and onions – all great cancer fighting foods – in my recipes.
We've heard a lot about healthy desserts, can you speak to that?
We have a very talented pastry chef, Michell Janah, who does an amazing job. We use as many natural products as possible and our unique desserts use vegetables instead of typical ingredients such as flour, sugar, etc. All of our desserts are diabetic friendly as well.
What if a patient doesn't want to eat anything on the menu?
All he/she has to do is ask the staff, and our Food Services team is happy to create special dishes that will appeal to the patient.
And with fresh food delivered almost daily, three shipments of organic produce a week, dietitian-approved recipes, ocean-caught fish and vegetable-based desserts, this truly is hospital food like no other.