True NOSH: Nourishing bodies and minds with wholesome Chinese cooking

Renée Chan’s love affair with food began at a young age when she would frequent restaurants with her dad.

“My dad was a connoisseur of [all foods],” Chan said. “He would know the best foods from all the different scenes.”

Chan’s dad struggled with diabetes throughout her childhood and passed away from complications before her high school graduation. Around the same time, her mother also developed heart disease. 

It was there and then she realized the significant role nutrition would play in her life. It later took one nutrition class in undergraduate studies to deviate from her original plan of becoming a doctor. Instead, she became a dietitian and eventually started her food-centric health and wellness company — The True NOSH Company — years later.

Based in Vancouver, True NOSH offers cooking classes and an array of artisanal, sugar-free food products – from hot sauces to granola – made with locally-sourced, organic ingredients. 

“What I do is Asian fusion. I will put tempeh or lentils to make it a bit healthier,” Chan said. “We [also] do vegan dim sum and dumplings to adapt to what the trend is right now and to be more environmentally friendly.”

Chan presents a healthy and modern twist on conventional Asian recipes while catering to the spectrum of dietary options. Simply put, her food is inclusive and can be enjoyed by everyone.

By sharing her passion for food, Chan hopes to inspire others to lead a healthy lifestyle with disease prevention in mind.  

“I’m trying to make sure nobody suffers a loss like me,” she said.

FROM BEDSIDE TO KITCHEN

After her biology degree, Chan packed her bags and moved to New York to pursue a Master’s of Science in Clinical Nutrition at New York University. Upon completion of the program, she became a registered dietitian and started working at a hospital, a common path for most in her field.

To her disappointment, she discovered that while healthcare institutions prioritized patient care and bedside services, nutrition was on the back burner. 

“I learned how pharmaceutical companies and billing in hospital worked,” she said. “They would prescribe insulin up and down; food wasn’t something the doctors would focus on.”

Even in one of the highest rated and most expensive hospitals in the country, patients were served juice filled with sugar. Organic food was not even an option. Chan appealed for changes to the food inventory whenever possible but was consistently met with resistance.

Feeling discouraged, Chan turned to her love of cooking and immersed herself in the restaurant scene. While working as a dietitian, she waitressed on the side to make ends meet — and began volunteering in the kitchen out of pure interest.

“I would go up in the morning to apprentice with the baker,” she said. “I would work lunch shift in the kitchen, and then I would be waitressing the dinner shift.

“It was a whole day in the kitchen, [but] it was so fun. I was never tired, [until] I got home and passed out. I felt like I was learning more about people’s diets and preferences working in a restaurant than working in a hospital.”

Chan continued her culinary journey by opening a series of restaurants alongside her head chef, followed by a summer stint in France with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF).

Later, she moved to Hong Kong and worked at a Chinese cooking workshop for six months, where she deepened her knowledge of the cuisine. This planted a seed for the series of cooking classes she would launch as part of True NOSH. 

SHARING IS CARING

Since opening its doors two and a half years ago, True NOSH has been moving on the fast track. From developing cooking classes and expanding product lines to introducing yoga to the space, Chan is not slowing down anytime soon. 

“It was always a dream of mine to run my own show,” she said.

Only a few years ago, Chan was teaching in her cozy one-bedroom apartment in Olympic Village which could only fit up to six people at a time. After four relocations, True NOSH is now rooted in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. The space accommodates up to 20 people per class.

Chan emphasizes the importance of the tactile experience — from the preparation of ingredients to the enjoyment of the end products — in cultivating a deeper appreciation for the process rather than just waiting for food to appear on the table.

“As dietitians, that’s what we actually want people to do — to get people immersed with the culture of cooking together,” Chan said. The act of cooking together is what ultimately shifts people’s mindsets about healthy eating.

“When you share the cooking procedure and the process, you will feel better sharing food in the end.”

BRIDGING THE GAP THROUGH COOKING

Chan’s classes are more than hand-wrapping dim sum or moulding mooncakes. You might also pick up a few Chinese phrases or historical tidbits.

“I incorporate a cultural component to differentiate my classes from others,” she said. “I love teaching traditional foods from festivals, like the Mid-Autumn and Dragon Boat Festivals, and I go into the history and why we eat the foods at different times to help people understand the traditions.”

The Vancouver-born dietitian and entrepreneur is doing her part to intertwine Chinese and Canadian culture in order to build a stronger sense of community and identity. 

“The recent influx of Chinese people have gotten a bad rep, driving up property prices and fighting for schools. I just want people to come in to eat Chinese food, learn some of our history, and try to bridge that gap.”