Frequently asked questions

Meals will come with directions attached.

Unfortunately, our capacity to alter meals or change items is limited. The menu and the meals are often determined by other factors (ie. research schedule and planning, etc…). That being said, please feel free to make a request, but realize that requests may be difficult or impossible to accommodate.

Some of our meals do not contain gluten, but they are prepared in a kitchen that is NOT strictly gluten free.

If you have a food allergy, please review the ingredient list for each menu item. Foods containing nuts are boldly labeled on our menu page. Please be aware that our kitchen is not strictly nut-free or gluten-free.

No.

We source organic ingredients when possible.

We work with experienced businesses in the Rochester area and when possible, use seasonal, farm-sourced produce.

Most likely you cannot. Our current studies are shown here (https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/family-medicine/research/nutrition-in-medicine-research-center/clinical-trials.aspx). For most of our projects, there are fairly extensive criteria that people need to meet in order to be eligible. If there is a study that interests you, you can find the inclusion/exclusion criteria at its corresponding clinicaltrials.gov page.

We conduct research with participants to learn about how dietary change can affect specific conditions, and our health more generally. Our goal is to see how nutrition might be effective therapy for some of our most pressing medical problems. You can find our research studies here (https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/family-medicine/research/nutrition-in-medicine-research-center/clinical-trials.aspx).

A whole food, plant-based diet is a dietary pattern based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, potatoes, and beans while minimizing or totally excluding animal-based foods (meat, eggs, and dairy) and processed foods, or food “fragments” like added pure fats and sugars. This dietary pattern is one of the dietary patterns that we use in our research, and it has been associated with a variety of health benefits.

The meals provided through this service are compliant with a whole food, plant-based dietary pattern. This is one of the main diets we use in our research. A whole food, plant-based dietary pattern avoids the use of added oils and solid fats because they are not whole foods. You may find olives in our meals, but not olive oil, and the nutritional qualities of these two ingredients are quite different. Previous research suggests that adopting this dietary pattern may offer health benefits for numerous chronic conditions.