Food for thought in medical training

Because it is difficult and not always appropriate for medical students to learn clinical skills directly with patients, teachers often need to find imaginative ways to simulate the body in their lessons. Medical education is filled with highly advanced technologies for this – virtual and augmented reality set-ups, digital databases of sound recordings and photographs, computerised simulation mannequins to name a few. But despite all of this sophisticated equipment, there is one place educators return to time and time again for inspiration: the kitchen. In a photo-essay in The Gourmand that was published recently, I delved into this culinary art of clinical simulation.