Black is head pastry chef and co-owner of Washington-based Black Restaurant Group, which will hold fundraising events this fall to raise money for a new state-of-the-art kitchen that is a part of an expansion at Children’s National Medical Center to support children with diabetes. For information, go to www.blackrestaurantgroup.com/.
What made juvenile diabetes such an important issue to you?
Our oldest son, Simon, has type I diabetes. When he was diagnosed three years ago, we got to know his endocrinologist [Dr. Fran Cogen] quite well. She is spearheading this project.
As a pastry chef, have you developed foods that are OK for diabetics?
We’re trying to use seasonal ingredients that are naturally sweet and reduce the number of processed sugars that are added. The other thing you have to look at it as what your portions sizes are. Now with all these different markets we have in the area, we have so much available to us. We’re just being a little bit more creative, like instead of having a traditional pie, you have the fruit with something on top of it to get that crunch.
How will the fundraising work?
We are going to have four events. They all start toward the end of October and run to the end of November, as November is National Diabetes Month. We’re doing a pig roast and an oyster roast, and two smaller events at some of our restaurants, where there will be course tasting and wine tasting.
What are some tips for those wishing to make low-sugar or sugar-free desserts at home?
A lot of people are now using Truvia, which seems to work well. I’ve been playing around a lot with almond milk, and different ingredients I normally wouldn’t use. Also you can make your own granola, so you can control how much sugar goes into it. – Joey Flechas
