A most revealing cooking show
Were it not for the sight being so mentally scarring, Diane Kenwright's cooking show might make a great new dieting regime.
That is because the University of Otago pathology associate professor uses an offbeat Julia Child-style to present everyday foods that show you what diseases look like inside your body.
"There are some esoteric ones, like in pancreatitis ... an inflammation of the pancreas," she said.
"The pancreas has little islets that produce insulin and it also produces enzymes that digest food.
"So, if the pancreas is damaged, those enzymes are released into the abdominal cavities where they start dissolving the fat.
"The collection of that fluid inside the abdomen looks just like chicken broth — it's cloudy and it has little droplets of melted fat in it."
Another delicious dish on her show is a chickpea curry, which bears a remarkable resemblance to a badly infected gallbladder with gallstones.
"The thing is, pathology in general is full of food analogies, because the body is an organic substance and food is an organic substance.
"I just relate to the appearance of food in terms of something that we've not actually seen inside ourselves."
She recommended people who are not pathologists avoid watching the videos because "once you've seen it, you can't unsee it".
"It's a horrible thought, and I think part of the attraction of some of the videos is the slight horror feeling that you get from thinking about it."
Associate Prof Kenwright said her target audience for the shows were medical students and other health science students, because often pathology was seen as "quite dry and unapproachable".
"This shows pathology in an approachable and humorous way, so people might think, 'actually, it could be quite fun to learn about this'."
She has created about 20 short shows in her own kitchen, filmed on her iPhone, and posted to her YouTube channel, The Pathology Cooking Show.
She was a pioneer in online teaching, and in addition to her cooking show, she has more than 100 recorded lectures on her YouTube channel.
The popularity of the shows among her students recently earned her a Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Konrad Muller Outstanding Teaching Award, which is given to those who show a passion for teaching and whose dedication to their subject inspires their students.
The University of Otago pathology and molecular medicine department head teaches pathology to undergraduate medical students in both Wellington and Dunedin, and she has worked for the university for more than 30 years.
She said she was delighted to be recognised by her peers across Australia and New Zealand.
"It's a real honour to receive this award.
"It is particularly special to have that acknowledgement come from my pathology colleagues."
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
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