Teaching the importance of food

By LARRY MEYER - ARGUS OBSERVER
Monday, July 9, 2007 1:23 PM PDT

Nicole Brauner, University of Idaho nutrition adviser at the Payette Extension Office, holds up several examples of food packaging she uses in her classes on how to read the food labels and buy the more nutritious food at grocery stores.

PAYETTE - Nicole Brauner, Ontario, had been working for Hewlett-Packard, but when it came time for a change of careers, she became a passionate advocate for healthy eating habits and teaching them to other people for the University of Idaho Extension Service, out of the Payette office.

Brauner, who has only been working as a nutrition adviser since March, quickly warmed up to her subject, which she would rather talk about than herself.

Brauner is from the Netherlands, which is where she began working for Hewlett-Packard.

“They have a European Support System in Amsterdam,” she said, adding she started out in tech support. “I speak several languages.”

Brauner came to Boise in 1999 through a transfer within the company, working her way up to tech marketing engineer. In 2005, she took voluntary severance from Hewlett-Packard and then left the company because jobs were going to China, Brauner said.

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“The best thing I ever did was come to Idaho,” she said.

Brauner said she started a translation business, but she was eventually drawn to work with food, no matter what she tried.

“I took a semester at BSU (Boise State University) in culinary arts.” she said. “I love food. I love teaching about it.”

During the course, she found the restaurant business was not what she wanted, although she said it was a very good experience. Students prepared food for a deli and restaurant on campus, she said.

“It is very physical work,” Brauner said. “I loved it. I didn’t want to to go into hospitality business.”

Brauner said she learned about the job opening and Payette and decided to apply for it. Brauner’s food program is based on the food pyramid, which is put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We forget what we put in our bodies is what we need to run on,” Brauner said, adding much of the food people eat is not healthy. “We don’t take time to cook a healthy meal.”

Beans are one of Brauner’s favorite foods, and she teaches how to prepare them as well as a variety of recipes.

“I teach how to make chocolate chip cookies with white beans,” she said. “Beans are wonderful, very nutritious.”

Brauner teaches a series of classes throughout the week at the U of I Extension office in Payette. She helps students learn how to shop and understand food labels and how to determine if food is really low fat.

Brauner’s family still lives in the Netherlands, and they try and see each other once a year, she said, adding her parents love coming here.

“They live in a big city and coming to Ontario is wonderful. People are nice,” she said.

The Netherlands is about the size of Rhode Island, with about 16 million people.

“Everybody lives on top of each other,” Brauner said. “People are grumpy. The open spaces (here) are beautiful.”

However, there are some things she has run into here, not found back home.

“We don’t have snakes in Holland,” she said. “It takes a mind change.”

Brauner and her husband have a place near Ontario, which she calls their “two-cow ranch,” which includes chickens and a large garden.

“I’m a master gardener,” she said. “I love it here.”