Sustainability Graduate Spotlight - Derek Oman
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-being, strives to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Healthy people are the foundation for healthy socio-economic environments, yet in Ireland we still have a high rate of the types of diseases which could be avoided through healthier lifestyle choices and nutritious food.
The CSO reported that in 2021, diseases of the circulatory system were the second most common causes of death in Ireland at 26.7%. In 2015 this rate was higher at 31.1% or 2.00 deaths per 1,000 of population. For context, if we consider the geospatial data from the areas around our University campuses, those rates are 2.16, 1.59, and 1.64 for Dublin City, South Dublin and Fingal respectively.
As individuals we are exposed to a number environments throughout our lives as we participate in civic life, education, and work. Achieving good health and well-being for all at all ages is contingent on the provision of support within the home, school, campus, community, and workplace environments. These environments can support individuals to make healthy diet and lifestyle choices, and in turn lower national rates of cardiovascular disease.
In this sixth edition of the Sustainability Graduate Spotlight series, we are focusing on SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and shining a spotlight on TU Dublin Graduate, Derek Oman, who in 2014, underwent a personal journey from being overweight to changing to a new and healthier lifestyle. Derek’s focus shifted to working on developing healthier food choices and seeking opportunities within food service operations that delivered healthier options.
Derek Oman
Derek has practiced as a professional chef for over 35 years, working in a variety of food operation settings from hotels to restaurants both in Ireland and abroad. During this time, he created and developed healthy food offerings for a variety of establishments – to name a few - he opened a raw food restaurant, developed an organic food and juice store, created healthier food options for office catering, worked alongside nutritionists in delivering healthy meals for inter-county football and hurling teams, established an organic butcher, deli, restaurant, and making homemade produce. All these enterprises focused on a flavourful plant-forward ethos of food offering with a strong emphasis on sustainability, working within the seasons, sourcing produce locally, and taking influence from global cuisine. Derek also created a business called ‘The Live Kitchen’ to develop and produce healthy foods with an emphasis on raw foods, fermentation, preservation, and delivering workshops and demonstrations.
Educational Experience
Derek graduated from TU Dublin in 2023, and we caught up with him to find out why after a well-established professional career he was motivated to embark on a third-level educational journey to study the Masters in Applied Culinary Nutrition (TU280), from the School of Culinary Arts & Food Technology. Derek describes “After researching courses that could improve my knowledge of nutrition and be applied to my professional career, I was recommended to do the master’s programme with TU Dublin as it was designed for professional chefs, people who work in healthcare settings, or for those who are enthusiastic about applying culinary nutrition in their place of work. The content of the course was designed to construct a solid foundation in the principles of applying culinary nutrition in the workplace that has the potential to change behaviours and habits towards healthy and flavourful food choices.
Applying new Skills and Knowledge
We wanted to find out what practical skills and new knowledge Derek took from the course that he was able to apply when producing healthy and sustainable food. Derek shared with us that;
The skills that I developed have improved my knowledge of culinary nutrition, to the point where I have completely changed my previous knowledge of nutrition. I now have what I call a 'toolkit' that allows me to research topics objectively and be unbiased in the development of creating informative content that I can deliver through my work.
He added that;
"One key aspect of the course is based on mindfulness which improves your learning ability and gives you confidence in yourself to become innovative and creative in changing mindsets towards food and food sustainability. At the beginning of the course, I felt like an imposter, that I did not belong, and that I did not have a degree before starting. I am forever grateful for the support of the team and especially Senior Culinary Arts Lecturer, Annette Sweeney, who created a pathway that I could better myself and believe in my ability to continue what I learned from the masters into the future. For me, taking on the journey of doing a masters programme has created a pathway that as a professional chef, we can become innovators and educators in the food space arena. Identifying the need for change within the food industry and the importance of embracing food sustainability as a clear and viable option that can improve both human and planetary health."
Derek is currently working on new opportunities where he says he can “add value to businesses by delivering consultations, workshops, and demonstrations on how to reduce food waste, and creating a positive mindset toward food sustainability, whereby food businesses create a circular economy - looking at climate change and the effect that producing food is having on the climate and agriculture.” Derek strongly endorses using the seasons as a guide when trying to source locally produced food and he recommends that his clients use ingredients that are grown or harvested on the island of Ireland as part of their business. Derek also let us in on a potential new community project that he is looking for funding to develop, as well as securing a new location. He describes the project model as involving “a farm-to-fork ethos, educating on the role of sustainable practices encompassing how we cook and grow food and re-connecting how food plays an important role in our day-to-day lives from the nutritional and social aspect of coming together.
What does #TUDublinSustainability mean to you?
To me, #TUDublinSustainability has taught me that change is required if we are to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We need to embrace new and innovative methods that are inclusive for all to advance the SDGs. We need a whole-of-society approach to deliver on improving the current equality, economic and environmental issues of our time, and for the next generations to come.